Finland's national men's ice hockey team conquered Belarus with a 6-2 win at the first match of the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships on Friday evening. The opposition dominated the ice in the first period, but the Lions hit their stride in the second, when Patrik Laine secured the first world championship goal of his career and assisted a second.
Superstar professional players on Team Finland, Mikko Koivu, Mikael Granlund and Antti Pihlström, also scored on the way to the crushing victory, but 18-year-old Laine was the one who made international headlines following his dazzling two-goal and one-assist performance.
Laine is the youngest World Championship-level ice hockey player in Finnish history.
Swedish papers Aftonbladet and Expressen both featured stories on the young star's talent and went as far as to say that Finland would soon become the new superpower in ice hockey.
Canadian sports network TSN ran videos and articles praising Laine's performance, calling him "the presumptive No. 2 pick at the upcoming NHL draft on June 24", behind young American forward Auston Matthews.