There's lots of precedent. In fact it seems to happen in every tournament. Team Canada always starts in a manner that makes sure it has lots of room to improve. It was no exception last night as the Canadians lacked a few of the essential elements of the game and lost 3-1 to Team USA, a victory the Americans fully deserved. It was only the opening exhibition game of the 2004 World Cup, so there's no real cause for concern.

But Team Canada coach Pat Quinn was concerned anyway.

"We're going to have to have improvement throughout our lineup," he said. "We just weren't good enough." The star-studded Canadian lineup, despite looking technically sound, never got around to showing the kind of flair that is likely to appear as the tournament goes on. It's not that they were terrible. Far from it. It was more a case of the Americans, playing a home game in Columbus, having more to prove.

As Team USA defenceman Chris Chelios said, "No one wants to be embarrassed out there." But it was certainly a case of Team Canada not playing with the kind of intensity that is needed at this level and even though it's early days in the tournament, it may still have an impact.

"We're going to continue to get better," said Team USA forward Doug Weight. "No one is going to lie down and say, 'We beat the Canadians so away we go.' "But this is a big step for us. It's a meaningless game with a lot of meaning."

By mutual consent, each team dressed 22 players, the idea being that the coaches would have a better opportunity to evaluate the talent. (The tournament itself will be played under NHL rules which set the limit at 20.) But the kind of high-level players who are involved in this tournament are accustomed to a lot of playing time and the extra players make it tough for them to get into the flow of the game. That may have been a cause of the Canadian lethargy. And Team Canada played without the line of Mario Lemieux, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards. But really, those are just excuses, not reasons.

The simple fact was that the Canadians were doing well then took it easy. "We had them," said Dany Heatley, who scored the Canadians' only goal. "We were controlling the play then we backed off in the second period." Heatley's play was one of the bright points for the Canadians. So was the play of Martin Brodeur, who provided excellent work in the Canadian net to preserve the lead. But with it being an exhibition game, Roberto Luongo took over just past the halfway point and the Americans wasted no time taking advantage.

The first shot Luongo faced -- from Bill Guerin in the slot -- went between his legs and tied the score. Then, just before the end of the second period, Brian Rolston unleashed a seeing-eye shot from the point that nestled under the bar to put the Americans in front. In the third period, with the teams playing a man short, Jordan Leopold snuck in from the point to convert a nice pass from Chris Drury.

"We wanted to play it easy," said Quinn, who made no secret of his displeasure with his team's approach to the game. "We had poor coverage for two-thirds of the game, even from the veterans in some cases. "They pretty much outworked us in the second half."

And maybe a bit more.