Analysis: USA's No. 1 seed well-earned, but no medals yet

The U.S. men's hockey team's architects and players loudly and gladly told anyone who would listen that the Americans were huge underdogs for a medal heading into the Olympics.

After last week's three-game sweep, capped by a stirring 5-3 win over Canada on Sunday, you can forget about that whole "Miracle on Ice II" story line.

"I don't think we're going to surprise anyone anymore," said Red Wings defenseman Brian Rafalski, Team USA's leading scorer with four goals and an assist.

So now it's the beginning of life as a favorite. Today's quarterfinal with Switzerland is no sure thing, even though the Americans beat the Swiss, 3-1, eight days ago in the Olympic opener. Of today's quarterfinal matchups, the United States' seems the easiest, well-earned after picking up the No. 1 seed; Canada, after defeating Germany last night, will face Russia Wednesday night, a meeting of the two best teams on paper coming into Vancouver.

U.S. general manager Brian Burke decided to start a new line of motivational techniques by telling reporters Monday that he wasn't thrilled by his team's play thus far; Burke was the one claiming that no one had bet a nickel on the U.S. team coming in, so maybe this trope will work, too.

"I think Burkie's trying to keep us where we need to be," Ryan Miller told reporters in Vancouver, "which is probably paranoid. Beating Canada wasn't the goal coming here. It was beating any team in our way."

It's the Swiss Wednesday, once again. Islanders defenseman Mark Streit and Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller got their Swiss squad under Canada's skin by taking the host team to a shootout - little did the Canadian fans know that was just a small disappointment compared to what came next against the United States - but Switzerland struggled to down Norway in overtime, and squeaked by Belarus in a shootout in yesterday's qualification round.

The way the Americans are playing, with coach Ron Wilson having found some reliable forward lines and a top defensive pair with the 36-year-old Rafalski and Predators defenseman Ryan Suter, this game should not be a problem.

It will be one, though, if the Americans start believing the hype.

Patrick Kane noted that "it felt like we shut the whole city down" Sunday. This is still a young bunch, so it's up to the braintrust and the leaders such as Rafalski, Chris Drury, Jamie Langenbrunner and Miller to keep hammering away at the "we haven't won anything yet" theme.

An undefeated team has been bounced in the quarterfinals in each of the last two Olympics - Slovakia by Czech Republic in 2006 and Sweden by upstart Belarus in 2002 - so nothing is assured by winning through the preliminary round.

But the United States has the best goaltender in the tournament right now in Miller - Henrik Lundqvist still hasn't allowed a goal, but he hasn't had to be as great as Miller was against Canada - and that goes a long way toward giving everyone else confidence.

"People can start believing if we put in a solid effort [today] and a solid effort again after," Miller said.