U.S. Goes to Next Level, 7-1 : Hockey: They have no trouble against Italy. Unbeaten Finland is quarterfinal opponent.

For inspiration, they watched a tape of Dan Jansen overcoming a frustrating Olympic past to win the gold medal in the 1,000-meter speedskating race last Friday. For incentive, they were reminded that a loss to Italy on Monday would end their Olympic medal chances and stamp them as the only U.S. hockey team to go winless at the Games.

And in case that wasn’t enough to get them going, they had a target who was too nervous to press his pads together.

Three goals in less than nine minutes, two of them long shots through the legs of Massachusetts-born goaltender David Delfino, launched the United States to a 7-1 mauling of Italy at Haakon Hall and into the quarterfinals.

The Americans’ 1-3-1 record and fourth-place finish in Group B set up a matchup Wednesday against Finland, which scored 25 goals and gave up only four in rampaging through Group A to a 5-0 record.

Although it seems a mismatch, Delfino isn’t counting the United States out, not after seeing what its determination can bring about.

“They came out hard. We had to be prepared and I guess we weren’t. Maybe I psyched myself out a little,” said Delfino, who grew up with U.S. center David Sacco and played in summer leagues with other American Olympians. “I’m not saying we would have won the game, but at least it could have been respectable. . . . Their work ethic is great and they never give up. I think they have a good shot at a medal.”

He had no shot Monday against a team that found his weak spot--along with the motivation it had lacked.

“I felt kind of bad for him,” said Sacco, who banked a shot off Delfino for the third goal, the last before the starting goalie was replaced by Bruno Campese. “I wish he’d had a better game, but he could have stood on his head and beat us, too, and I wouldn’t have liked that. . . . We needed a win to stay alive, and that’s all I knew.”

Knowing that, however, might not have been enough. To strengthen the team’s fluttery emotional pulse, strength and conditioning coach Jack Blatherwick assembled a tape of Jansen’s world-record performance and showed it to the players during a team meeting Sunday. The message hit home.

“The true courage he had, an unbelievable athlete who conquered everything in his sport except a gold medal and then in his last race won it and set a world record, well, I wasn’t really crying, but it was a pretty emotional moment,” Sacco said. “The sentiments were, whatever you want to do, you can accomplish it if you believe, and this team believes in itself.”

Said U.S. goalie Garth Snow: “It showed a guy who’s faced a lot of adversity and who’s really excelled over adversity. It seems like he’s kept a really good attitude through it all. It was really inspirational.”

Peter Ciavaglia began the rout Monday with a blast from the right circle at 1:50, and Peter Ferraro kept it going at 3:59 with the first of his two goals. After Sacco’s power-play goal sent Delfino to the bench, the scoring resumed against Campese at 13:03 on a wrist shot by David Roberts.

Brian Rolston, celebrating his 21st birthday, also scored twice as each of the four U.S. lines contributed at least one goal. Rolston has scored in four of the five games here and shares the tournament goal-scoring lead with Slovakia’s Miroslav Satan at seven each.

In their only pre-Olympic meeting, the United States defeated Finland, 6-2, on Dec. 16 at the Izvestia Cup tournament in Moscow. Since then, however, both teams have changed their rosters, and Finland is challenging for its first gold medal.

U.S. Coach Tim Taylor said the Finns, “had a marvelous tournament . . . (but) our players will play with determination and confidence. You can’t go in with the fear to fail.”

They succeeded in fine fashion Monday. “Technically, we needed a tie to get in, but if we had come in tonight and tied the game, I don’t think our psyche would have been in good shape,” Ciavaglia said. “I don’t think we could have designed anything better for a situation when everything’s riding on one game.”

Their hopes now ride on Wednesday’s single-elimination game. “Right now, everyone’s 0-0-0, and we’re pretty positive going into the medal round,” said Snow, who is sure to start in goal. “We’re Americans and we’re not going to go in there afraid. We’re going in with a lot of confidence. We can play with anybody.”

*

Canadian goaltender Corey Hirsch couldn’t help admiring Sweden’s precise and uncanny passes.

“It can be mesmerizing,” he said. “But you can’t let them do it to you.”

Hirsch and his teammates didn’t let Sweden get away with much, recording a 3-2 victory that earned them a second-place finish in Group B. Hirsch faced 36 shots, including 17 in the first period, as Canada (3-1-1) and seeded fourth, moved on to a medal-round matchup against the Czech Republic.

In losing, Sweden (3-1-1) missed a chance to win the group title and instead dropped to third, setting up a quarterfinal matchup against Germany on Wednesday. Slovakia beat France, 6-2, and finished first in Group B with a 3-0-2 record.