'Damn Yankees', 'Woe Canada' after shock loss

Canada's shock defeat to the USA in the men's Olympic hockey tournament Sunday sent an entire nation into mourning and prompted newspaper headlines like "Damn Yankees" and "Woe Canada".

Some in the Canadian press called it a bump in the road that can be fixed while others said drastic measures to shore up the lineup are needed in the wake of the 5-3 group defeat.

Goaltender Martin Brodeur took the brunt of the criticism as the NHL's career victories leader looked shaky on a few of the American goals.

Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper screamed "Woe Canada" saying that the losing to the US in an Olympic hockey game for the first time in 50 years capped a weekend of disappointing results in several Olympic sports.

"A weekend of trouble on the short track, on the slopes, and now in the rink," the paper said.

But a hockey loss stings especially hard one of the paper's columnists wrote.

"The Americans have speed. They used it to win the world juniors in Saskatoon a month ago and they used it again last night to underscore the vulnerabilities of the Team That Is Not Allowed To Lose, Canada."

The headline in the Vancouver Province was "Damn Yankees".

Hockey columnists asked if the team would be better off switching goaltenders and putting Roberto Luongo in the goal in place of Brodeur. Luongo lives in Vancouver and plays for the home town NHL team, the Canucks.

"With laughable goaltending when compared to most other teams in this tournament so far, and non-existent communication between Martin Brodeur and perhaps an overrated defence, Canada must now win four straight games to get where they want to go."

The Toronto Star said there is no need to panic that suffering their first loss could just be a "Pothole In The Road To Gold".

"The loss to (US goaltender) Ryan Miller and spirited young American squad doesn't spell the end for Team Canada, but it does make things harder," wrote the Star's hockey columnist.

The Toronto Sun says Canada?s goaltending now becomes the hot-button issue.

"The irony of the situation Sunday night is Brodeur?s puck-handling skills were the reason Canada lost."

Canada face Germany on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals where fellow gold medal favourites Russia will await.