By Amy Tennery
MILAN, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Olympic pressure cooker is no place for American bravado, as the U.S. need an underdog mentality if they want to unseat bitter ice hockey rivals and defending champions Canada in Milano Cortina, Hall of Famer Angela Ruggiero said on Monday.
The top-ranked Americans will be confident when the women's tournament begins on Thursday, after completing a four-game Rivalry Series sweep of Canada in December and winning the world championship in April.
"The Americans
on paper are number one, but I think in the locker room they're smart, they're thinking anything can happen in any game and it's one game," said Ruggiero, a gold medallist with the U.S. team in 1998 who is working as an analyst for NBC at the Games.
She learned first-hand that a top ranking does not always lead to the top spot on the podium in 2002, as the United States were strong favourites in their title defence but lost in the final to Canada.
"We had a bunch of calls against Canada, but we couldn't score - I can go on and on about why we didn't get the gold," Ruggiero told Reuters.
"If I were the coach, I'd manufacture ways to make them feel like they're the underdogs. And not feel super confident. Because you can feel confident, but you play differently. You've got a chip on your shoulder when you're the underdog."
Canada lead the U.S. by five golds to two since the first Olympic women's tournament in 1998 and have selected an experienced team compared to the Americans' more youthful lineup.
"This rivalry is so intense that anything can happen," said Ruggiero. "And I think that's the excitement."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Milan, editing by Ed Osmond)
