VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Why bother having the tournament?

Nearly every hockey pundit and publication in North America has picked Canada to skate off with Olympic gold in men's hockey, many of them noting that the Canadians' depth is great enough to field two contenders. The talent includes Sidney Crosby, an imposing collection of power forwards led by Rick Nash, a top defense pairing of Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, the great Martin Brodeur in goal and ... well, suffice it to say that Jarome Iginla, owner of 436 NHL goals, was placed on the fourth line for the team's first practice here Monday.

So, gold it is.

Foregone conclusion.

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Except for one thing: The Canadians are favored in virtually every international tournament, and history -- including recent history -- shows that they tend not to win these things:

• There have been three Olympics with NHL players, and Canada's only victory came in 2002, behind a determined Mario Lemieux. In Turin, Italy, four years ago, Canada finished seventh, and Sweden went on to win.

• Those three Olympics have produced six different finalists.

• The past two World Championships, an annual tournament involving some NHL players during the Stanley Cup playoffs, were won by Russia.

• The most recent World Junior Championships, an annual tournament of the best under-20 players, was won by the United States, though Canada took the previous five.

• And hey, just for fun, no Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993.

Bottom line ...

"Oh, for sure, someone else can win," Russian winger Aleksey Morozov, formerly of the Penguins, said. "There is a lot of talent here. And I know there is a lot of talent on our team."

"I don't think it's a given that Canada's going to win. Not at all," United States winger Ryan Malone, also formerly of the Penguins, said. "I mean, I can understand why people here feel that way. There's a lot of pride. Canadians learn to play hockey before they go to church. But I look around at the players I've seen here today, and I see not just two or three teams that can win this. I see a lot of them."

The NHL players arrived en masse Monday, all national teams getting in one practice before the puck drops today for three games at Canada Hockey Place. The first is U.S. vs. Switzerland at 3 p.m.

In the next game, the pressure on the host begins, even though Canada will face off against a Norway team that is sure to be overwhelmed. Every shot, hit and decision will be dissected from coast to coast.

The term "pressure" gets tossed about in Canada rather liberally as it relates to sports, almost to the extent that it seems a self-fulfilling prophecy when a national athlete or team loses. Steve Yzerman, the team's general manager, spent much of a weekend news conference trying to address pressure: He went so far as to call Russia the tournament favorite, adding, "There won't be a parade in Moscow if they win silver."

It is likely that no individual will bear the burden of Canadian pressure more than Crosby. But he did not let it show during an intense, though at times playful, practice.

"Everything was made very clear to us, very detailed," Crosby said afterward. "We know the way we're expected to play. The expectations are high, and we all realize that. But that's fine. That's what we know as Canadians."

At the same time, as Crosby acknowledged, "There are a lot of good teams. The winner is going to have to earn it."

Indeed, the most prominent reason Canada could lose should be the most obvious: Even though there might not be a better roster, there might be a better team.

For all Canada's national depth, all those quality players left off the roster -- such as the Penguins' Jordan Staal -- will have no impact here. It will be 23 players against 23 players. And, in that context, there will be five other teams -- the U.S., Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic -- whose rosters are either filled with NHL talent or rounded out by national players capable of playing in the NHL. More than half of Slovakia's roster is in the NHL, too.

Some have speculated that, because these Olympics will be the first to use an NHL-sized rink rather than the wider international sheet, Canada will have an edge, either because of its players' superior size or because European rinks are the international size. But the latter ignores that NHL players are spread over several rosters. To most, this will feel like a road game against the Canucks.

Moreover, these are not the Stanley Cup playoffs that span two months and eliminate teams through bit-by-bit attrition. There will be three preliminary-round games, followed by one-and-done quarterfinals, semifinals and the gold-medal game Feb. 28. Thus, all it takes is one ill-advised pass, one muff on a 75-footer against Belarus, and even the best roster is out.

"That's the biggest thing of all," Malone said. "It's just one game. Anything can happen."

Russia and Sweden are consensus choices as having the best chances -- apart from Canada, of course -- at gold.

Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin are Russia's anchors up front, and they are far from alone: Ilya Kovalchuk, Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov and Morozov will offer an elite scorer on nearly every line. The blue line is suspect beyond Sergei Gonchar and Andrei Markov, but the goaltending should be fine if Evgeni Nabokov performs up to par.

Sweden has all the ingredients for a golden repeat, including more than half its roster back from Turin. Mats Sundin is gone, and Peter Forsberg is well removed from his NHL MVP days, but two other talents are better than ever: Henrik Sedin, the NHL's No. 2 scorer who will be playing on his home rink, and Henrik Zetterberg, perhaps its finest two-way forward. Also back are Nicklas Lidstrom, one of the most brilliant defensemen in hockey history, and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Daniel Alfredsson summed up Sweden's approach to the favorite: "If you were to put us against Canada in 82 games, I don't like our chances. But to play them one game, we definitely can beat them."

The Americans will look wholly different, the youngest team in the tournament after changing the guard from Bill Guerin, Keith Tkachuk, Mike Modano and that generation. And that is not the only reason they might also be the tournament's fastest: Zach Parise, Patrick Kane, Phil Kessel and Dustin Brown all are 24 or younger, all blazers. The U.S. also will benefit from having the NHL's top goaltender, Ryan Miller.

Anyone who remembers Dominik Hasek carrying the Czechs at Nagano knows that no facet is more important in this tournament.

No matter who is favored.

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