Pressure mounts for Yzerman, Team Canada (News Feature)

By David Hein Feb 14, 2010, 9:08 GMT

Vancouver - Being a favorite for the Olympic gold medal is one thing. But should Canada not win the men's ice hockey gold at home it will be a national tragedy.

Posters in British Columbia don the picture of two Canadian hockey players with the phrase 'Force Fate'. While tens of millions of Canadians hang on every word that Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman says.

And one Canadian hockey journalist summed up the pressure facing Sidney Crosby and company this way: 'Silver would be an insult. Bronze would be a huge insult. And not winning a medal at all would bring about a summit to fix hockey.'

Welcome to ice hockey in Canada.

Besides the pressure of expectations, Yzerman's men also have to deal with not training together since a four-day mini training camp/orientation gathering in August 2009.

Many of the players will be starring for their NHL teams until Sunday and have less than 48 hours before their opening game against Norway Tuesday night. And they will be playing in a competition system unfamiliar to all of them.

This is hockey in the land of Canada.

Yzerman designed his team with one goal in mind - beating Russia to take the gold. And when asked about pressure on his team to take home gold, the former Detroit Red Wings legend said Canada is not the only team thinking of the top of the podium.

'Do you think they'll have a parade in Moscow if the Russians go home with the silver medal? [There] won't. The expectation in Russia is gold. The expectation in Sweden is gold. And whether they admit or not, the USA is in this to win a gold medal,' Yzerman said.

'And I won't forget any other country as well. All of us are playing to win the tournament and any team that doesn't is going to be disappointed.'

One negative that Canada will face in every game is that they will get the best shot from every opponent.

'It will be a once in a lifetime experience to play those superstars,' Norwegian defenseman Tommy Jacobsen said of the opener.

Canada and Russia are the clear favourites for gold, with the Russians winning the last two world championships and Canada playing at home.

Yet Canada and Russia are not the only teams who can win the gold. Sweden are the defending champions and Finland have more than a dozen players back from the 2006 side that took silver in Turin.

The games at Canada Hockey Place will have much more an NHL feel than European as the International Ice Hockey Federation decided to use the NHL size rinks as opposed to the bigger European ones - which outsize the NHL ice 26m x 61m to 30m x 60.98m.

'It's a different game from Europe - more contact, less room. It makes it quicker, more complex. But every player knows that,' said Finnish general manager Jari Kurri.

'Coming from the big to small rink is going to be the biggest difference. It's going to take a couple of games to get used to it, but I've played here before,' said Finland forward Niko Kapanen.

And while many of the fans will be looking forward to offensive forces such as Canadian ace Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin of Russia and Swedish veteran Peter Forsberg, the goaltending usually makes the difference in tournaments like this.

'It's the biggest factor. In a short tournament like that, with one practice before it starts, the goalie has to be the best goalie in the tournament, at least for us,' said Swedish net-minder Daniel Sedin.

'Canada and Russia can get away with having a goalie that is not the best one, but we need our goalie to be the best.'

'If you look at teams that won (Olympic gold) with NHL players, we had three tournaments with six different finalists. And what they have all done, the teams that have won, is quickly develop a team concept and get strong goaltending,' said U.S. team general manager Brian Burke.

The format at the 2010 Games is also different than previous Olympics. The 12 teams are broken into three groups of four with the group winners and the best second-placed team qualifying directly for the quarter-finals.

The remaining eight teams will play for the final four quarter-final spots. And then the final eight will face off in a playoff to determine the gold medalist.