Men's ice hockey: United States thrashes Belarus 8-1

Tuesday, February 19th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (AP) _ John LeClair scored two goals and Brett Hull added another in the opening eight minutes of the second period as the United States beat Belarus 8-1 on Monday for its best Olympic start since 1980.

Hull scored on a slap shot in the first minute of the period after Belarus goalie Andrei Mezin shut out the United States in the first period, then set up LeClair for two goals in less than five minutes _ giving LeClair five goals in three games.

Modano, reunited on a line with Hull, his former Dallas Stars teammate, also had two assists as the Americans finished 2-1-0 in round-robin pool play under coach Herb Brooks. The win all but assured the U.S. team of a Wednesday quarterfinal game against Germany.

``We feel we can beat any team in this town,'' U.S. forward Jeremy Roenick said. ``We dominated defensively in the first three games. We have a lot more to do in the next three games.''

The United States led 3-1 after two periods, then piled on five goals in the third period _ two each by Scott Young and Bill Guerin _ to create a big advantage in any tiebreaking situation. Young and Guerin now have three goals each in the Americans' three Olympic games.

Russia also could finish 2-1-0 in pool play, but, because goal differential is the first tiebreaker, it had to beat Finland by 12 goals Monday night to become the top-seeded team in the four-team bracket.

Winning the pool is a substantial advantage because it all but assures a team of reaching the semifinals. The top-seeded team plays the lowest-seeded team from the other four-team bracket, almost always a team that played its way into the final field of eight through a week of qualifying play.

Mezin, who has played for five U.S. minor league teams, was remarkable in turning aside 15 first-period shots, but couldn't withstand the relentless pressure by the Americans, who finished with 48 shots.

Tom Barrasso, the third U.S. goalie to play in three games, gave up a goal in the first 20 seconds to Dmitry Pankov, and finished with 13 saves.

Belarus was the only team the United States beat while losing three of four games in the 1998 Nagano Olympics.