WINTER OLYMPICS / NOTEBOOK

The U.S. hockey team arrived, its confidence boosted by a 2-2 tie with Sweden in its pre-Olympic finale. “It was a moral victory,” defenseman Brett Hauer said. “We did a good job shutting Sweden down in the neutral zone, and that’s what we have to do against puck-control teams.”

The U.S. opens play Sunday against France, and Coach Tim Taylor said his team is ready.

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Taylor, 51 and on leave from his coaching job at Yale, isn’t sure whether he will return there after the Winter Games. “I’ve been at Yale 17 years, maybe it’s time to move on,” he said. “I like to coach. It’s the only option I have right now, but I’m not ruling out other options.”

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Center Todd Marchant of Williamsville, N.Y., a seventh-round choice of the New York Rangers last June, was the top U.S. scorer in pre-Olympic play. Marchant had 67 points, including 28 goals, in 59 games, three points more than right wing Peter Ferraro, also a Ranger draft pick. Ferraro was the team’s top goal scorer, with 30.

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Russia’s hockey team, one of the favorites, will have to make do without forwards Viacheslav Bykov and Andrei Khomutov, whose Swiss League team wouldn’t release them for the Games.

The Russian team has been together only since Jan. 27, a departure from previous years when the players trained together for several months. Players are now permitted to play in European leagues, which means that their clubs won’t let them go until the last minute--if at all.

“This was definitely the most difficult team to put together,” said assistant coach Igor Dmitriev, the heir apparent to longtime Coach Viktor Tikhonov. “We have many candidates . . . but we have no one with outstanding skills. No leaders.”

He also said that left wing Valeri Karpov, the Mighty Ducks’ third pick and 56th overall in last June’s entry draft, had fully recovered from the broken arm he suffered in December, but is “not in the right condition.”