With history and home-ice advantage on its side, the United States will not need a miracle to win the men's Olympic hockey gold medal.
The United States is trying to erase the memory of a disastrous performance at Nagano in 1998, where it won just one of four games and was bounced by the upstart Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.
Worse, some team members then took part in a well-publicized trashing of a room at the Olympic Village. Thirteen members of that team are back, including 40-year-old captain Chris Chelios.
"I recognize this is my last chance to win a medal in the Olympics," said Chelios, who is making his third appearance at the Winter Games. "It's one thing I haven't accomplished. And with the Games being held in Salt Lake City, it seems like maybe it was meant to be."
Chelios knows his Olympic hockey history.
The United States struck gold the last two times it hosted the Olympics, winning at Squaw Valley in 1960 and pulling off the Miracle at Lake Placid in 1980. And the link between those triumphs and this year's American team is Herb Brooks.
The last player cut from the 1960 squad, Brooks coached an unlikely group of college players to the 1980 upset and is back behind the bench at Salt Lake City, reunited with his former assistant coach, Team USA general manager Craig Patrick.
Brooks will not have a group of fuzzy-cheeked teenagers this time around. His group of forwards is among the most talented at the tournament.
Jeremy Roenick, Mike Modano, Keith Tkachuk and Doug Weight are among the holdovers from Nagano. If there is a negative, it's the fact that many U.S. forwards prefer a power game that is negated somewhat by the larger Olympic ice surface.
That could prove a bigger liability on defense, the Americans' glaring weakness.
"When Europeans get on that international rink, it's like old-home week for them," Brooks said. "They play an entirely different game because they know how to play on that rink. But for the Canadians and the Amercians, to make that adjustment, it takes more time."
Time is something the United States does not have. A loss to Sweden in the opening game in 1998 set the team on a downward spiral from which it never recovered.
The Americans are fortunate that goaltender Mike Richter, the hero of the 1996 World Cup, recovered quickly from knee surgery. He has emerged as Brooks' No. 1 goalie ahead of Mike Dunham and Tom Barrasso.
Goaltending was a strength for Canada until Patrick Roy -- winner of four Stanley Cups -- stunned the nation by announcing he would bypass Salt Lake City to focus his energies on the NHL playoffs.
That leaves Curtis Joseph, Martin Brodeur and Ed Belfour as coach Pat Quinn's options in the net.
Defense is a plus for Canada, which has not won an Olympic hockey tournament since 1952. Rob Blake, Adam Foote, Ed Jovanovski and Scott Niedermayer provide a perfect blend of physical play and mobility.
Canada also boasts big names up front, none bigger than Mario Lemieux. Back after a 3 1/2-year retirement, Lemieux played his best hockey in the weeks leading up to the Olympics as he tried to recapture the magic of a 1987 Canada Cup victory.
Quinn is hoping 1998 captain Eric Lindros recovers from a mild knee sprain, but there is plenty of depth and versatility among the forwards with the likes of Paul Kariya, Owen Nolan, Michael Peca and Joe Sakic.
The Czech Republic shocked the world by winning the gold medal in Nagano, but it will sneak up on no one this time around.
Coach Josef Augusta's team starts with 1998 hero Dominik Hasek in the nets and includes Jaromir Jagr up front. And while they lack the element of surprise, the Czechs have been fortified by the addition of young stars like Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora.
"I think there are big expectations back in the Czech Republic," Hasek said. "People expect us to win again and it's a little bit scary because to repeat something is more difficult. Also, the North Americans are home now, so it's a little bit of a disadvantage for us."
Russia knows a little something about repeating as Olympic champions. The Soviet Union bounced back from its disappointment at Lake Placid by winning the gold medal in 1984 and 1988 and again in 1992 as the Unified Team.
But success has eluded Russia in recent international competition as many of its top players migrated to the NHL. The task of restoring past glory falls on the shoulders of the legendary Viacheslav Fetisov, who is making his head coaching debut.
His team has as much talent as any with the likes of Pavel Bure, Alexei Yashin, Sergei Federov and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin.
Sweden is just eight years removed from a gold medal, but took a major hit when the hero of that victory, Peter Forsberg, could not recover in time for Salt Lake City.
The Swedes still have Mats Sundin, Markus Naslund, Daniel Alfredsson and workhorse goalie Tommy Salo, but they appear a notch below the top four teams.
The same can be said of Finland, which is going with untested goalie Jani Hurme and whose top sniper, Teemu Selanne, is struggling through a subpar season in the NHL. Battling cancer, playmaking center Saku Koivu is not available.
The NHL will suspend play for 12 days for the hockey competition, but that comes as small comfort to David's like Slovakia, Latvia and Belarus, who will not have many key players for some of the preliminary round games.
Two of the eight nations in that tournament will advance to play with the Goliaths in the main event, which begins Feb. 15.
