VANCOUVER - Admit it, for a while Tuesday night you were just a little bit concerned, maybe even a wee bit nervous.

A while, by the way, is defined as being precisely 22 minutes and 30 seconds.

That is how long it took before Team Canada scored its first goal in the Olympic hockey tournament, and allowed a nation to exhale and avoid a collective panic attack.

"After that first goal, we got better," said Jarome Iginla, who scored it. "We started to shoot from the right areas and each line settled in nicely as the game went on."

When it was over Tuesday night, the Canadians cruised to an otherwise comfortable and dominant 8-0 victory over a plucky Norwegian team that has caused this country fits before.

It was Canadian coach Mike Babcock, after all, who reminded everyone the other day of a frightening 2-1 win over Norway and the same goaltender who started last night, Pal Grotnes, at the world championships two years ago.

And for a while Tuesday night some no doubt were thinking, or fearing, maybe, just maybe history might be repeating itself.

"Hey, these teams think its going to be their day, that if they get goaltending and a power play that they might win," said Babcock.

Anyway, this night wasn't as much about the result, assuming Canada won, of course, as it was about how the result was achieved.

As you would expect when you assemble a team of 23 players, 14 of whom were making their Olympic debuts, and give them exactly one hour of practice time, and put them on home ice before a sea of passionate red, the Canadians were hardly a fine-tuned machine to start.

"The whole group was nervous early," said Babcock. "We expected that."

But from the start they still dominated, outshooting Norway 14-4 in that scoreless first period, but they just didn't play smart hockey. Then they outshot Norway again 16-6 in the second and, as promised, Babcock adjusted his lines along the way and got instant results.

He moved Iginla alongside Sidney Crosby and Rick Nash  in the second period and that led to Iginla's power-play goal to open the scoring that allowed everyone to breath.

"No one got antsy when it was 0-0 in the first period and our play showed it as well," said Crosby.

That line adjustment also meant Patrice Bergeron dropped to the fourth line with Mike Richards and Jonathan Toews and they produced  a goal, by Richards, who moved up from the 13th forward slot.

Babcock was very pleased with the work of that fourth line.

Canada got stronger and stronger and more in sync as the night wore on. Throughout, even when it was tied, you just got the sense it was only a matter of time before they broke through, then would run over the Norwegians.

Now, the Canadians can be thankful they had Norway as the opening night draw. It was the right opponent to ease into the competition, as the visitors were unable to muster much in the way of a meaningful attack, but were determined enough to make Canada sweat it out in the opening period and work for their victory.

"The process of today was a good one, to not instantly go out and score five goals in the first period," said Babcock. "It was good to battle through a little adversity."

In the end, Norway was never going to be a true measuring stick for Canada. But like we said, it was how the Canadians achieved the result that would matter most.

And there were elements of the game that Babcock and company liked a lot. His line adjustments worked, six different players scored, 17 different players had points. They also got production from all four lines with Crosby leading the way with three points, all assists. It never hurts to have your best player play really well on opening night, either.

And in a tournament in which goal differential matters, an 8-0 win is a very good win.

But just as it was never really that bad through the scoreless 22 minutes and 30 seconds, the nation should temper the enthusiasm somewhat, as well. It's only one game and it was only Norway.

But Canada did exactly what it had to do Tuesday night - stomp a weak team. They didn't panic early, they got over their nerves and showed the first signs of pulling together as a group, getting better with each period.

They are, after all, a work in progress but as long as they are making progress that is the most important thing.

All told, it was a good start.