Team USA wins bronze; Canada takes gold
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kieffer Bellows oneupped Jeremy Roenick and Trent Frederic scored four times, so the United States earned a bronze medal.
As consolation prizes go, it wasn’t a bad haul for the U.S., which rolled to a 9-3 victory over the Czech Republic in the bronze-medal game at the world junior championship on Friday evening.
“You see the resilience in our group,” captain Joey Anderson said of how the defending champion Americans shook off the disappointment of a 4-2 semifinal loss to Sweden a day earlier. “The staff, they make sure the kids know there’s a great deal of pride in medaling. Even though it’s not gold, this bronze medal means a ton.”
Bellows scored twice, including once on a penalty shot, to raise his tournament total to nine goals, the most at the event. That’s one better than Roenick scored at the 1989 world juniors before going on to play 18 years in the NHL and enter the USA Hockey Hall of Fame.
Bellows, the son of former NHL star Brian Bellows, was selected by the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2016 draft.
Of his tournament, he said: “My success came from all my great teammates. Had a lot of fun the last two years, and it’s going to be tough to never come back to this.”
Then there was Frederic, who fell one goal short of matching a U.S. record for a junior tournament game. Wally Chapman scored five times against Switzerland in 1984, and Chris Bourque had five against Norway in 2005.
Anderson and Patrick Harper had a goal and assist each, and Ryan Poehling also scored in a game the U.S. led 7-0 at the end of the second period.
The Americans earned a medal for a third straight year, the nation’s longest streak in tournament history. The U.S. won gold a year ago and bronze in 2016. The Americans’ medal tally is 11: four gold, one silver and six bronze. This was the second third-place finish in Buffalo; the first was in 2010-11.
In the gold-medal game Friday night, Canada defeated Sweden 3-1 for its 17th championship.