Canada opens with 8-0 hockey win over Norway

Reporting from Vancouver — 

As far as most of Canada is concerned, the Vancouver Olympics started Tuesday when the men’s hockey team faced Norway in its first preliminary round game.

As far as Team Canada’s players were concerned, their tournament truly got underway in the second period, after they shook off their jitters, began planting players in front of the net, and started to figure out each other’s tendencies and styles.

Jarome Iginla of Calgary had a hat trick, Dany Heatley of San Jose added two more scores and Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby had three assists in his Olympic debut as Canada scored three times in the second period and five times in the third for an 8-0 rout at a crammed and raucous Hockey Canada Place.

“It was exciting,” said Ducks right wing Corey Perry, who scored Canada’s seventh goal, off a scramble in front.

“It’s something you think about since the team has been announced. Once we had that first goal the momentum shifted our way and we kept going after that.”

Canadian goaltender Roberto Luongo of the Vancouver Canucks, playing in his home arena, stopped 15 shots and held steady until his teammates beat Norwegian starter Pal Grotnes on their 18th shot. Canada got a bit of a break when Grotnes developed leg cramps and had to be replaced by Andre Lysenstoen after giving up Canada’s fourth goal, a deft backhander by the Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf at 4:29 of the third period.

The fans chanted “Lou” for Luongo each time he was called upon and roared with anticipation that turned to exhilaration as the game wore on.

“It was magical,” Luongo said. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time and we finally got to enjoy it.”

The crowd of 16,652 thought Iginla had recorded a hat trick on Canada’s final goal and showered the ice with hats and caps and assorted headgear but the goal was credited to Rick Nash. No matter. The night was a rousing success for the Canadians, who face enormous expectations in their hockey-mad homeland.

Norway held its own during the first period but Iginla’s first goal, ripped through a screen set by Nash during a power play at 2:30 of the second period, shifted the momentum.

Heatley redirected a shot Chris Pronger took from just inside the blue line for a 2-0 lead at 4:27. After stifling Norway during a five-on-three advantage Canada came back with a goals at 11:06 on a second-effort wraparound by Mike Richards.

After that, the deluge.

“In the second period we made a concerted effort to get in front of him and force him to fight through the screens,” Pronger said. “We got some tipped pucks and that always helps.

“At first, guys were just kind of excited to get things going. We settled back in and realized it’s just a game and back to playing the way we know how.”

And they do know how.

“They’re stacked with superstars,” Norwegian defenseman Tommy Jakobsen said. “We were hoping for a better result but playing against these guys, they’re all stars on their NHL teams.”

After Norway failed to capitalize on a 48-second five-on-three advantage, Canada extended its lead to 3-0 at 11:06. The puck was dumped into the corner and slid behind the net, where Mike Richards pounced on it and tried for a wraparound. His first attempt was stopped but his second try made it inside the right post.

Canada poured it on in the second period, disheartening for the Norwegians but energizing for the hockey-crazed Canadian fans stuffed inside the arena.

After Getzlaf gave Canada a 4-0 lead, Heatley scored from the top of the left circle, Iginla finished off a cross-crease pass from Nash, Perry jammed in a loose puck and Nash provided the final flourish with 1:49 to play.

Afterward, Iginla couldn’t stop marveling over linemate Crosby. “Every pass is in your wheelhouse and he saucers it in,” Iginla said. “He can pass. He can shoot. He can do it all. He does it all.”

Crosby downplayed his effort. “You find those guys and play to their strengths,” he said. Iginla, he added, “finds these areas to get shots off and when he does he’s really good.”

Canada wasn’t running up the score--but neither did it want to pull back too much because goal differential is one of the tiebreakers in determining placement.

“You never know what’s going to happen throughout the tournament,” Pronger said. “I don’t think you want to completely bury a team but we’re certainly not going to stop shooting the puck and stop going to the net.

“We don’t want to create any bad habits for our team. They can creep in pretty quickly when you let your foot off the gas pedal. We wanted to keep pushing and getting to [Grotnes] and we were able to do that.”

And just think: after an 8-0 victory Canadian players said they can--and must--get better before they play Switzerland on Thursday. “We see where we are,” Crosby said, “and what we need to build on.”

helene.elliott@latimes.com