‘94 WINTER OLYMPICS / Lillehammer : Pressure Appears to Be on Swedes : Hockey: They have been told that nothing short of the gold is enough. Canadians are relaxed.

Happily casting themselves as underdogs in today’s gold-medal game against Sweden, Canada’s Olympic hockey players romped through practice Saturday.

“I like our mood,” Coach Tom Renney said. “And given what we had to work with over the course of the year and how various hockey people looked at how we’d compete, we’re satisfied with that role.

“In the minds of other people, maybe we’re somewhere we shouldn’t be. But in our minds, we deserve to be where we are.”

Although they have won the World Championship three times since 1987 and Olympic bronze medals in 1980, ’84 and ‘88, Swedish teams have never won a gold medal. A loss today to Canada, whose 5-1-1 record is identical to theirs, might cost Coach Curt Lundmark his job.

“We read in the newspapers that we’re supposed to win the gold,” said left wing Mats Naslund, the former Montreal Canadien standout. “Even our (hockey) federation says the only thing that counts is if we win the gold. That didn’t help.”

Sweden’s only loss here was to Canada, by 3-2 in the final round-robin game. Canada also defeated Sweden in two of their three pre-Olympic games and at last year’s World Championship, but the players aren’t relying on history.

“If you go in thinking, ‘We beat them three times, so we should beat them a fourth,’ that can be deceiving,” defenseman Brad Schlegel said. “This is a one-shot deal. . . . Sweden is a patient hockey club, sound defensively, and they move the puck well and counterattack. We have to be aware of that.”

They also have to be aware of Peter Forsberg, who set up Sweden’s first three goals against Russia in a 4-3 semifinal victory Friday. Forsberg was the sixth pick in the 1991 NHL draft.

“He proved to me he’s not only a promising player, he’s ready to play in big games,” Naslund said. “I had doubts, a little bit, but (Friday) he played 60 minutes of super hockey.”

Naslund centers for Jonas Bergkvist and Roger Hansson on Sweden’s top line. Its top individual scorer, right wing Patrik Juhlin--seven goals, eight points--usually plays with Naslund and King draft pick Daniel Rydmark.

Canada has scored 25 goals, five fewer than Sweden, but each team has given up only 16. Corey Hirsch, who has a 1.98 goals-against average, will start in goal for Canada against Tommy Salo, who has a 2.20 average.

“We’ve got to pay the price along the (boards) and down low,” Renney said. “We’ve got to stay out of the penalty box, be patient and dedicate ourselves to a game plan of strong defense.”

This is the first gold-medal experience for most of the Canadians--only three players are back from the 1992 team that lost the gold medal to the Unified Team--and they are savoring it.

“We came in as underdogs and nobody expected us to be here,” Hirsch said. “We’re enjoying ourselves, enjoying the moment, when maybe other teams are feeling the pressure.”