This is the revised Olympic tournament's warm-up act, its preliminary round. Eight nations that will win a hockey medal when Tara Lipinski bench-presses Akebono. Eight nations that will have their fun until the event's six big boys - Canada, the United States, Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden and Finland - begin play in the final round on Feb. 13.
``We're not going to win a medal, we're not going to even qualify,'' said Dave King, the former Team Canada coach who now is Japan's general manager. ``We're here to have a good time and show what we can do.''
Yesterday, the Japanese players, seven of whom are Canadian nationals, shouted and sped their way through a spirited practice - a session typical of those of the other preliminary-round teams.
``It is a great honor to play here in Japan in the Olympics,'' Japanese goalie Dusty Imoo said. ``Canada and America and others have very strong teams, but we will do our best in our round.''
To accommodate the ballyhooed introduction of NHL players into the Games, and to keep the league's midseason shutdown as brief as possible, hockey officials were forced to alter the format.
Instead of placing all teams in four relatively equal pools as in the past, the event has been divided into what, in effect, are two separate tournaments. One is for the hockey ``haves'' - the Super Six nations loaded with NHL talent - and the other for the eight ``have-nots,'' who will play today.
Each of the not-so-elite eight ought to at least be competitive with one another. Slovakia is probably at the top, and Japan, despite the sport's burgeoning popularity here, at the bottom. The other six teams, King said, are extremely well-matched. In previous Olympics, the outcome of an Italy-Canada game, for example, was never in doubt.
