The U.S. Men's National Under-18 Team will compete at the 2016 International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Men's World Championship from April 14-24, in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Six Minnesota born players will represent Team USA, as they look to grab their third consecutive gold medal in the World Under-18s.

All six of the Minnesota players figure to play a big role in the team’s success next week. Five of the players are members of the Under-18 National Development Team. Eden Prairie’s Casey Mittelstadt and two other standouts Logan Brown (North Carolina) and Kyler Yamamoto (Washington) were the only non-NDTP players chosen to the team. Here is a look at the six Minnesota players and how they got to Grand Forks.

Joey Anderson (Roseville) – versatile forward that anchors the top USA line with Kieffer Bellows and Clayton Keller. Anderson played youth hockey in Roseville before spending two seasons at Hill Murray. The UMD commit is a great playmaker that will see a lot of ice time on special teams.

Kieffer Bellows (Edina) – the second leading scorer on Team USA with 72 points (44 goals, 22 assists) figures to be the highest drafted Minnesota player in this Summer’s NHL draft. Last year he lead Sioux Falls in goals as they won the USHL’s Clark Cup title. Bellows will skate for Boston University next Fall.

Matt Hellickson (Rogers) – played two years of high school on the blue line for hometown Rogers where he had 38 points. The Notre Dame commit is a great skater and very smart with the puck.

Ryan Lindgren (Minneapolis) – the future Gopher has 20 points this year and is one of the top three defensemen on the NDTP. Prior to joining the program in Ann Arbor, Ryan played three seasons at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault.

Casey Mittelstadt (Eden Prairie) – arguably the best high school player in Minnesota last season. In the state tournament he had 12 points in three games. The highly decorated star has fit in nicely with the team so far putting up four points in five games skating with Brown and Yamamoto.

Jake Oettinger (Lakeville) – joined the NTDP after a great freshman campaign at Lakeville North. The Boston University commit has had a great two year stretch between the pipes for Team USA stopping over 90 percent of shots faced in the USHL and international play.

Team USA opens pool play Thursday with a game versus Russia followed by games with Sweden, Latvia and Switzerland. The top eight teams (of 10) qualify for the quarterfinals. Stay tuned to YHH on Twitter for details of the team and their performance.