VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- No, this was not a Miracle.

Nothing ever will match what those college kids achieved at Lake Placid 30 years ago today against the mighty Soviet Union machine. Not in hockey. Maybe not in American sports.

But this United States hockey team, an underdog in its own right and the youngest in these Olympics, got two goals from defenseman Brian Rafalski and 42 saves from Ryan Miller in its 5-3 toppling of Sidney Crosby's gold-medal favorite Canadian team Sunday night at Canada Hockey Place.

That ended the Olympics' preliminary round and gave the Group A title to the Americans, now 3-0, as well as a bye into the quarterfinals.

Maybe just as important, it made a statement about the national status of hockey.

Truth is, it was not going to require a miracle to pull this off. Not with more Americans than ever playing the sport -- including Pittsburgh, where there are 10 times as many rinks now as there were before the Penguins drafted Mario Lemieux in 1984 -- and not with more Americans than ever in the NHL.

One of those, Upper St. Clair native Ryan Malone, was wearing the red, white and blue in this one, the only hockey player born and trained in the Pittsburgh area to participate in an Olympics.

Another, Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, was born in San Francisco and raised in Buffalo, given his first name after Herb Brooks, the late patriarch of U.S. hockey and architect of the Miracle.

Current coach Ron Wilson had been toying with his players' minds in the days leading up to this game. He openly wondered about their roster being the youngest at these Games and questioned how the athletes might handle facing Canada "emotionally."

That carried into Sunday, when he and general manager Brian Burke surprisingly arranged for the Americans to take the ice in replica 1960 sweaters. That team also won gold, at Squaw Valley, Calif., and, more relevant for this day, was the last one to beat the Canadians in any Olympics. There was a tie in 1994 and a gold-medal loss in 2002.

Also, the U.S. was expected to have three Miracle members in the arena: Mike Eruzione, who scored the goal that beat the mighty Soviet Union, as well as goaltender Jim Craig and forward Mark Johnson, now the coach of the Olympic women's team.

The U.S. won the World Cup of Hockey in 1996, an all-NHL tournament that was a precursor to the league's participation in the Olympics, by taking beating Canada in Montreal. But there have been no other comparable upsets since the Miracle.

The Americans opened with promise, taking a 2-1 lead through the first period on two goals by Brian Rafalski sandwiched around one from Canada's Eric Staal. Rafalski's first goal was a point shot accidentally tipped past Canada goaltender Martin Brodeur by Crosby. The next broke a 1-1 tie, Rafalski coasting through the slot and tucking a low shot through traffic.

Even with the lead, though, the Americans' challenge was evident on the shot clock, where Canada had a 19-6 edge. The bigger, more bruising Canadians clearly entered with a mindset of shooting liberally and working for rebounds, deflections and disruption in front of U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller, one of the NHL's best.

Sure enough, the Canadians kept coming, and Dany Heatley's rebound goal 3:32 into the second tied the score at 2-2.

About midway through that period, though, the Americans seemed to find their equilibrium and, at 16:46, Chris Drury rapped a loose puck into the vacated net behind Brodeur to restore the lead, 3-2.

Shots in the second period: U.S. 13, Canada 12.

That posture did not change in the third and, on the second of the power plays they earned, the Americans went ahead by two on a tip by Zach Parise at 7:09. He was near the crease and got enough of Rafalski's point shot to direct it in.

Crosby, the Penguins' captain, scored with 3:09 left -- a redirect past Miller -- to cut the U.S. lead to 4-3 and add to the tension, but Miller and the Americans hung on, and Ryan Kesler sealed it with a diving empty-netter.

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