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The panic that has extended across the country over the play of the Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team in Vancouver has not invaded the inner sanctum of Sidney Crosby and the rest of the Canadian players.

Less than 24 hours after their disappointing 5-3 loss the rival United States, the Canadian players emerged from an afternoon practice a confident bunch.

They don’t appear bothered that their mediocre start has forced them to get past Germany in a qualification game on Tuesday and a quarter-final clash with a well-rested Russian squad on Wednesday.

Some members of the Canadian contingent still blamed the wonderful 42-save performance from U.S. goalie Ryan Miller as the reason they don’t have an simpler road to Sunday’s final.

“We’re not sitting here in total shock,” Canadian team executive director Steve Yzerman said. “We weren’t surprised by Miller’s play.”

Still, Canadian head coach Mike Babcock will shift to Roberto Luongo from Martin Brodeur for his starting goalie against Germany. He also juggled his lines, giving Sidney Crosby a new set of wingers in Eric Staal and Jarome Iginla. Ryan Getzlaf and right-winger Corey Perry will play with Rick Nash.

Brodeur place forth a stinker in the loss to the U.S. He mishandled the puck and wasn’t sharp. But veteran defenceman Chris Pronger, whose game also hasn’t been up to snuff in Vancouver, remarked that the defence has to be better in its own end.

“First and foremost, it has to be our defensive zone coverage,” Pronger said, when questioned what area has to improve in Canada’s game. “We have to play better with and without the puck and support each other. We have to clear the front of the net better for whoever is in goal.”

Did Brodeur’s penchant for playing the puck make it hard for the defencemen not used to freelancing ways?

“You mean, coming from a team that doesn’t play the puck?” Pronger said. “It did a small bit. At times, throughout the course of the game, we relied on that too much and that allowed us at getting too stagnant as defencemen in moving back for the puck.

“There was a point in the second period where we chose let’s just go back and get the puck for Marty. That allowed us to get our legs moving and make a better choice with the puck as opposed to being stuck with an opponent and trying to get away from him.”

Did Brodeur handle the puck too much?

“I don’t reckon so,” Pronger said. “A lot of times he was just trying to get it past the first forechecker, and a lot of times it was just going to the second guy. We needed to do a better job talking to him. A lot of times he could have just stopped it and set it up for us, but we peeled off and that forced his hand.”

What forced Babcock’s hand to shift Nash off the Crosby line for the time at the 2010 Olympics? After all, Crosby, Nash and Mike Richards were on the ice for the first three goals scored by the U.S. on Sunday.

“In Detroit, when it goes excellent, we don’t go it around a lot,” Babcock said. “When it doesn’t go excellent, we do. We’re just trying to improve our team and get better and better.”

Crosby would not concede that his line struggled against the U.S.

“It’s not just our line,” he said. “We have to have everyone for balanced scoring.

“We knew that there are must wins no matter who we play. That’s just the way it is. I reckon we have gotten better as the tournament has gone on.”

Another area of criticism for the Canadians has been that their physical play has been lacking. But Crosby believes because he and his teammates have had the puck so much, they haven’t needed to be physical.

“I wouldn’t say we’ve had to be overly physical because we’ve controlled the puck so much down low,” Crosby said. “There times maybe when we’re forechecking that we have used our size. I can remember tons of shifts last game. 

“We didn’t play a terrible game. We played hard, but unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of bounces. We were well prepared for that – when you play in a tournament like this. You expect to win, but you also realize the scenario and the fact is that you are playing against some excellent teams.

“Everyone forgets that every team is in the same position. Everyone has to win now. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the last three games, whether you have won them or lost them or whatever the case is everyone is in the same situation.

“Whoever can deal with it the best and be their best at the right time is the team that is going to win. That’s the situation we face and with the group of guys who have been through so many things in the past, I reckon we’re all confident that we can be our best when we need to.”