By Jeff Z. Klein

New York Times News Service

VANCOUVER, British Columbia

The American men skated onto the Canada Hockey Place ice on Sunday with a clear sense of purpose. They wore their 1960 replica sweaters, commemorating the United States' first gold medal in Olympic hockey, won 50 years ago at Squaw Valley. They knew where they stood and what might come.

And when they skated off at the end of a gritty 5-3 victory, they had created a spot in hockey lore for themselves. The last time the Americans beat the Canadians in Olympic competition was in that same year, 1960; since then they had tried six times, and all they had to show for it was a tie, in Replica fendi wholesale 1994.

Monday was the 30th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice. But at this tournament there is much more hockey history to be made. The only question is who will be writing it.

By finishing as the No. 1 seed in the 12-team field, the Americans hold the biggest pen. Their next opponent, on Wednesday, will be the winner of the Switzerland-Belarus qualifying match today .

Still, amid the euphoria, U.S. coach Ron Wilson recognized the sobering aspects of Sunday's victory.

"We still have some work to do," he said, and referred to Canada's 45-23 shooting advantage. "We got outshot today. Granted, we had the lead, but the guys are doing some good things out there and we're going to keep building and getting better. These guys are only going to get more confident."

Wilson speaks of confidence. Canada, meanwhile, is in crisis.

The loss to the Americans forces the Chanel Replica Handbags Canadians to play a qualifying game tonight against Germany. That's not so bad , but assuming they win, what follows is pretty bad. They would have to face powerful Russia on Wednesday.

The Canadians have real problems. One may be the age-old North American belief that you must go around hitting people whenever and wherever you can, despite evidence questioning its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, Canada coach Mike Babcock is benching Martin Brodeur - the NHL career victories leader - for allowing four goals on 22 shots Sunday. Robert Luongo will start instead .

Babcock will also have to do something about Sidney Crosby's line. While Crosby was dynamic, scoring once, he was also minus-3. He seems diminished and manageable without his Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Evgeni Malkin.

today's games

Switzerland vs. Belarus, 3 p.m.

Canada vs. Germany, 7:30 p.m.

Czech Republic vs. Latvia, 10 p.m.

Slovakia vs. Norway, midnight

Zenith Replica Watches today's games

Switzerland vs. Belarus, 3 p.m.

Canada vs. Germany, 7:30 p.m.

Czech Republic vs. Latvia, 10 p.m.

Slovakia vs. Norway, midnight