Quotes of the Day

Hockey players from the NHL know a thing or two about pressure. But how do they stay cool when the reputation--even the identity--of their country rests on their shoulders? The solution, say Canadian hockey stars at the 20th Olympic Games, is to seek out the mundane. As the Olympic hockey tournament began its march toward the grand finale at the Torino Games this Sunday, Canada's finest sought out a little normality by hitting Torino's shopping malls and gorging at local ristoranti. Some players were "itching to play cards--friendly games," says defenseman Adam Foote, in a joking reference to the gambling scandal that has cast a shadow over the team's executive director, Wayne Gretzky. The Canadian superstars also grounded themselves with humility by mixing it up at the Olympic Village. "You're with the best athletes in the world," Canadian forward Brad Richards says of life in the insulated Village. "That's quite a feeling."

Late last week, the favored Canadians learned that a little more grounding was still in order. After opening wins against Italy and Germany, Canada got reality-checked by the surprising Swiss, who triumphed 2-0 on Saturday. To add insult to injury, the two Swiss goals were scored by Paul DiPietro, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, who played for the Stanley Cup- winning Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

Should Canadians, who expect nothing less than perfection in hockey, be worried? Upsets, of course, are always part of the equation in any Olympic event. And, says coach Pat Quinn, who also skippered the team at Salt Lake City in 2002 when Canada snapped a 50-year Olympic-gold-medal dry spell: "Talent isn't the only thing that wins here." Proper chemistry and discipline factor into the mix as well, and Canada showed little of either against the Swiss. Canadian forward Dany Heatley put it succinctly: "Things didn't go our way." In order to attain gold, this disparate group of players will need to gel into a team in a very short time, says Quinn. And they will have to keep their emotions in check during these patriotism-charged Games and the Olympics' pressure-cooker schedule. (To make it to the final, Team Canada would have to play eight games in 12 days.) One or two more stinkers could mean they're out; lose the quarterfinal, no medal.

Other adjustments will be needed. Because the dimensions of Olympic hockey don't match the NHL's standards, the Canadians have to get used to a somewhat different game. With the Olympic rinks 4 m wider than those in the NHL, goaltending and special teams--power play and penalty killing--become even more critical. "Bigger ice surface, totally different game," says Finnish star Saku Koivu. "The NHL guys that are big and strong in front of the net and good in the corners in the NHL don't matter so much here."

Being No. 1 also brings out the competitive juices in the opposition. "Canada has won all the tournaments the past couple of years," says Koivu, "but I know that every country that plays against them is going to be ready, because they want to beat them. They can't go forever being the top team." But while Canada's rivals are feeling motivated, they also are coping with some key losses. A leg injury suffered by Czech goaltender Dominik Hasek in the team's opener against Germany prompted NHL vice president Bill Daly to withhold the league's commitment to the Games beyond the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. Other top players who are out: Swedish forward Markus Naslund, Czech forward Patrick Elias and Finnish goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.

In making up its roster, Canada risked fatigue and injuries by going with tried-and-true veterans, eschewing such younger stars as Sidney Crosby and Jason Spezza. The fiercest competition is likely to come from the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland. Team USA and Switzerland are both regarded as dark horses, while Russia--a longtime nemesis that hadn't been expected to be a threat--has been playing in Torino as if it has nothing to lose. The Russian team is young, assembled by former NHL star Pavel Bure and led by rising players, including NHL rookie-of-the-year candidate Alexander Ovechkin. That can't be reassuring for the Canadians. In Olympic history, Canada's record against Russia (and the former Soviet Union) is one win and six losses. The Russians don't seem intimidated. "I hear the same thing over and over again--even the Russian people in the stands saying we're no good," says forward Alexei Kovalev. "We don't care about Canada and the other teams. Every team can be a surprise here. You never know what to expect."

If the Canadians prevail, men's hockey gold would cap what is shaping up to be one of the country's finest winter performances ever. There were certainly high expectations. The Canadian Olympic Committee (coc) brazenly targeted third place in the overall medal standings--likely requiring 25 medals, compared with the 17 that Canada took home four years ago. Canada might not make it, especially after several failure-to-convert performances in the Games' opening days. As the unfulfilled expectations initially piled up--as when all four female snowboarders failed to qualify for the half-pipe final, or when Emily Brydon finished 20th in the women's downhill--coc chief executive officer Chris Rudge said he was planning a post-Games symposium of sports psychologists to discern why Canadians crumble under the weight of the five rings. The only early bright spots were the inspirational silver won by Beckie Scott and Sara Renner in cross-country team sprint and Jennifer Heil's gold medal in freestyle moguls.

But last Thursday, Canada suddenly came alive, winning four medals: in speedskating (silvers in both men's and women's team pursuit), women's skeleton (Mellisa Hollingsworth-Richards, bronze) and men's figure skating (Jeffrey Buttle, bronze). Buttle's medal was particularly welcome, as he had fallen during his short program. "It's unbelievable," he said. "I would have never thought I could come back." Then came a one-two finish Friday in the skeleton for Calgary firefighter Duff Gibson and World Cup leader Jeff Pain. Gibson, 39, who immediately retired from his sport, has the distinction of being the oldest person to win an Olympic winter gold in an individual event.

But no matter how well Canada does as a whole, it's the performance of the men's hockey team that matters most. That helps explain the passionate sideshows that have flared at Torino. There was, of course, the Gretzky gambling controversy. Then news broke over new legal action against Team Canada star Todd Bertuzzi in connection with an on-ice NHL attack against Steve Moore in 2004. But rather than become distractions, Canada's hockey players say that if anything, the controversies have further unified Team Canada. "Growing up in Edmonton, watching [Gretzky] play with the Oilers, I remember how much fun they had as a group," says forward Jarome Iginla. "You want to be part of a team like that." A gold medalist in Salt Lake, Iginla, a star with the Calgary Flames, now has another chance in Torino. No pressure. Just the country's reputation at stake.

• TOM MALONEY / TORINO