MILAN — The head coaches for the Canadian and Swedish men’s hockey teams broke new Olympic ground Monday when they closed their practices to the media, hiding their systems work and line combinations from prying eyes ready to send that information back home to nations full of fans obsessing over every last detail they can get on their teams.

The American men dominated Latvia during their first game of the preliminary round of Olympic hockey in Milan, Italy, on Thursday, besting the Northern European men 5-1 with two goals from Brock Nelson.

For the Big Three in hockey, anything less than outright victory is an utter failure — and what a shame that is.