If you were scripting a favorable hockey scenario I don't think you can do better than what the Canadians setup. So why even with everything in their favor are they going to fold?
You look at all the things in Canada’s favor and you could easily think the gold medals came with Canada pre-engraved on them but not so fast. Team Switzerland, with only two NHL players on their roster came a couple whiffed penalty shots away from making an entire nation implode. This Sunday the Canadians host a United States team that (on paper) is better than Switzerland, has zero fear and no problem ripping the heart out of 33 million hockey fans in their country.
All the US team needs to do is either jump out to an early lead or keep this game too close for comfort. Eventually the pressure of 33 million will force the Canadians on the ice and in the stands to implode. A proper comparison would be the 1984 US dream team. What if they lost? That would have set US basketball along with national pride back 50 years. Canada is a nation of 33 million people and most of them are hockey fans. They have attached national pride to winning a Gold medal in the sport they created so make no mistake this is a big deal to them.
The problem for Canada is simple. They have the perfect storm of everything being in their favor which also means they have zero excuses if they lose. By contrast the US team has zero pressure because they were never considered a favorite, but you know how feisty those Americans can be when people count them out.