US defeat Canada

While the Americans moved directly to the quarter-finals Canada will now have to take the long road to the gold medal final and play a sudden death qualification game on Tuesday to earn a place in the last eight.

After Canada failed to add to their Vancouver Games gold medal total on the second weekend of Olympic competition, the hockey mad nation turned to its men's hockey team for a lift.

But the young Americans turned Olympic Super Sunday into Sombre Sunday for Canada, jumping out to 1-0 lead after just 41 seconds then grimly hanging on until the final buzzer to secure top spot in Group A along with cross-border bragging rights.

"We're just like every team in the tournament now and we're all trying to survive because if you lose you go home," Canada coach Mike Babcock said.

"We understand what we're up against and we'll just start preparing for the next game."

Brilliant blue skies and spring-like conditions made it a prefect day to be outside soaking up the Games atmosphere but the place still to be was inside Canada Hockey Place for a spectacular ice hockey hat-trick featuring the world's six top ranked teams in rematches of the last three Olympic finals.

The hockey feast began early with Russia beating the Czech Republic 4-2 in a replay of their 1998 Nagano Winter Games final but the day's hottest ticket was for the afternoon clash between the US and Canada.

The contest was seen as the first serious test for both teams and the electric atmosphere inside the packed arena underscored the magnitude of the cross-border rivalry.

"That was some of the most intense hockey I have ever played," said US netminder Ryan Miller. "It was probably one of the biggest games I have ever played in, hopefully it provides the confidence we need moving forward."

Miller was the key to the US win as Canada dominated large chunks of the contest, completely outshooting the Americans 45-23 but could not capitalise on enough of their scoring chances.

The US took some of the steam out of the party when Brian Rafalski scored just 41 seconds after the opening faceoff, blasting a shot past unsteady Canadian netminder Martin Brodeur who did not look like the NHL's all-time leader in wins and shutouts.

Eric Staal answered for Canada but Rafalski once again played the role of party pooper scoring 22 seconds later to send the Americans into the first intermission leading 2-1.

Canada dominated the second period and got back on level terms when Dany Heatley slammed home a rebound but the US regained the lead with just over three minutes to play when Chris Drury scored from a goalmouth scramble.

A power play goal from Jamie Langenbrunner early in the third put the Americans up 4-2 silencing the boisterous crowd until Sidney Crosby brought the arena back, redirecting a feed from Rick Nash to cut US advantage to 4-3 setting up a furious finish.

Canada poured into the zone blasting away at Miller but could not crack the American netminder and at the death Ryan Kesler fired into an open net to seal a dramatic win.