West Valley City, Utah ? As Canada celebrated its gold medal victory by littering the ice with flung sticks and gloves, Team USA head coach Herb Brooks leaned back on a panel of plexiglass with his hands on his hips and the faraway look of defeat on his face.

The scoreboard registered the evidence: a 5-2 Canada victory over the U.S. in a game that seemed to be more lopsided than even the score indicated.

USA's Chris Chelios, right, and Phil Housley stand dejected with their silver medals after losing 5-2 to Canada in the men's hockey final at the Winter Olympic Games in Utah. The Olympics came to a close Sunday evening.

“I don’t think we had the legs,” Brooks said after Sunday’s loss.

It was his way of stating the obvious, which was that Canada outhustled and outworked the U.S. for a gold medal that deserved to be theirs from the opening face-off to the final horn.

“I think we were always one step behind,” said U.S. goaltender Mike Richter, who kept the score closer than it would have been had he not spent a good chunk of the game stopping shots while lying on his back, sprawled on his stomach, and just about every bodily position in between. “I think we were a little tired, it looked like to me.”

Canada, which was slow out of the blocks in the Winter Olympics when Sweden buried them in their first game, came on strong in the end to bring the country its first gold medal in hockey since 1952.

“Getting smoked by Sweden was a good lesson and we knew we had to get better,” said Joe Sakic, who scored two goals and assisted on two others in Sunday’s victory. “We played better as each game happened, and we played our best game of the tournament today.”

The United States, in winning silver, wore its first Olympic hockey medal since the improbable 1980 team snatched gold. But the U.S. was expecting better when it fashioned a 4-0-1 record to reach the final game, and gave the pro-U.S. crowd a charge when Tony Amonte scored after Doug Weight deflected an errant pass his way.

But Canada tied it six minutes later on a goal from Paul Kariya, one that involved some deft decoying on the part of Team Canada captain Mario Lemieux. Chris Pronger’s pass looked to be targeted for Lemieux, but he fooled everyoneincluding Richterwhen he allowed the puck to pass between his skates, straight to Kariya.

“(Lemieux) is sneaky,” Richter said. “He has such a good sense. He knows Kariya is there. I can see them both there, and the pass goes to Mario’s stick. He doesn’t just not play it, he actually puts his stick there to play it, and then moves his stick. It was a beautiful playa play you have to honor as a goalie. Obviously I honored it a bit too much because it left (Kariya) open on the left side.”

After Jarome Iginla scored the first of his two goals late in the first period to give Canada the 2-1 lead, Canada and Lemieux squandered a huge chance to make it 3-1 early in the second period when penalties gave Canada a 5-on-3 advantage.

But Lemieux, who was standing a few feet from an open net, shanked his can’t-miss shot left.

“I just couldn’t believe that I missed the open net,” Lemieux said. “It’s not something I have done too many times over my career.”

The U.S. not only survived the two-man disadvantage, but tied the game on a Brian Rafalski shot late in the second period that glanced off the heel of Pronger’s stick and past Martin Brodeaur.

But that was just about it offensively for Team USA.

Sakic scored his first goal to make it 3-2 at the second intermission. In the third, Brodeur made a well-timed kick save that foiled Brett Hull’s potential tying shot.

“We had one really good chance, but Brodeur got a pad on it,” said Phil Housley.

And then Canada put the away for good when Sakic fed Iginla for the backbreaker goal with four minutes left in the game and Sakic scored one himself for good measure with under two minutes to go.

“When we got the fourth goal, it was a big moment, and we could see light at the end of the tunnel,” Brodeur said.

Said Canada’s Simon Gagne: “It’s pretty fun to bring the gold medal back to Canada. People have waited a long time, and after 50 years, we’re bringing it back.”