Team USA General Manager Brian Burke has made no secret of the fact that his team will be underdogs in Vancouver. With Canada and Russia sending virtual all-star teams to the Games, Burke admits the expectations from outside may be low. His expectations, however, are different.

"People are going to put all their money on those guys," Burke said, "but we are going there to win."

To get there, Burke and his head coach, Ron Wilson, got a head start on motivation. At the U.S. Olympic orientation camp, held in Chicago in August, Wilson and Burke hammered home a message that might not have been as clear in 2006.

"We've openly told our players that we only have one goal in mind and that's to bring home a gold medal," Wilson said. "When you go to the Olympics, one of the things you get is a participation certificate. And we're not going to get a little framed certificate that goes on your wall. We want a gold medal."

At the 2006 Torino Games, the U.S. team finished eighth place overall, a disappointing follow up to the silver medal in 2002. The team, made up of mostly veterans who had played in Salt Lake, never seemed to come together as a cohesive unit.

Their play reflected that, as they finished group play with just one win, and played Latvia to a tie. Each of their three losses was by one goal, including the quarterfinal loss to Finland that knocked them out of the tournament.

"I think Torino was a disaster for everybody, and not for lack of effort," Burke said. This time around, he is taking cues from someone who has proven successful on the Olympic stage: Jerry Colangelo, who built the "Redeem Team" that won basketball gold at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Burke consulted Colangelo about what he did to bring that team together, no small task considering the NBA superstars on the U.S. roster. One idea to come out of those discussions was implemented at the Olympic camp, when Burke brought in speakers to motivate the players. They ranged from military heroes to Olympic heroes, including 1994 gold medalist Dan Jansen and several members of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" hockey team.

The changes didn't go unnoticed. Los Angeles Kings captain Dustin Brown, who was at the camp in 2006 but was not selected for the team, is a virtual lock for the Vancouver roster.

"Last time going in, I think it was not the same attitude," Brown said of the pre-Torino camp. "The message being sent wasn't that we were going there to win."

But in Chicago, Brown said he got the message right away. "They've made that very clear, that we're going there to win," he said. "We're the underdogs, we understand that, but we need to be ready to play."

The 2010 team also won't resemble past U.S. teams. Of the 34 players invited to the camp, only four had previous Olympic experience. The average age was 27, which is four years younger than the 2006 average.

The next generation of USA Hockey, which may not include many household names, will undoubtedly be able compete on the biggest international stage. Players such as Brown, Zach Parise, Patrick Kane and Paul Stastny have taken on roles for their NHL teams that belie their age. Many of them have played together, representing the U.S. at world juniors and world championships. Wilson hopes that their youth will provide an added bonus.

"If we can play a naïve type of a game where we don't quite comprehend the pressure, I think that will enable us to play a really exciting, aggressive style, without fear in our game," Wilson said.
The excitement is already evident. After hearing Jansen speak at the camp, Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter was inspired.

"After that, it's like all right, let's go play now," Suter said. "After hearing him speak about [the Olympics] and everything going on, you just want to be a part of it."