updated 1:13 p.m. ET Feb. 23, 2006

TURIN, Italy - All that talent. All that money. All that nothingness.

Canada, the land that invented hockey but somehow can’t seem to win at it regularly, sent what it thought was its best-ever Olympic men’s team to Turin.

Oh, it made history for sure, but in entirely the wrong way. O Canada? No, in these games the bottom line was: Russia 2, Canada 0.

The Canadians’ third shutout loss in four games assured them of a 13th gold-less Olympics in the last 14 Winter Games. The defending gold medalists began returning to their NHL teams Thursday with only a nasty scar on captain Joe Sakic’s right cheek for show for nine mostly miserable days in Italy.

Almost no goals. No medals. And, at least for now, no immediate answers about how such an elite group of mostly all-stars could exit the Olympics looking no more like a cohesive team than it did on the day it arrived.

“It’s devastating,” said Wayne Gretzky, still the face and voice of Canadian hockey though he long since has stopped playing the game. “Devastating.”

Team Canada’s executive director looked like it, too. Waiting in an anteroom to talk to reporters after the elimination game loss, Gretzky repeatedly wiped away tears from his red-rimmed eyes. He had watched from a private box high atop the ice, but had the look of a player whose team had just lost a triple-overtime Game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals.

How could it happen? How could an elite group of players who will be paid nearly $100 million in salaries, and that has scored 334 goals in NHL games already this season, look as dysfunctional as a bantam league team on its first road trip to Medicine Hat?

And how could Gretzky be part of a disjointed operation that assembled an experienced but slow team better suited for the narrower dimensions of an NHL arena than the wide and unforgiving ice of international play?

“When you play six games in eight days, there’s not a lot of time to practice and get that cohesiveness,” defenseman Chris Pronger said after Canada scored in only one of its final 12 periods in Turin. “If you look around at a lot of the countries, they are so familiar with each other and the ice. It’s tough to make that adjustment in eight days.”

Especially when a team must wait four years for the chance to redeem itself.

Hockey Canada will have plenty of time to ponder why it declined to bring in its promising new talent — Jason Spezza, Eric Staal, Sidney Crosby, Dion Phaneuf — to counter the speed of Finland, of Russia.

“Before the Olympics, I would have been surprised if you had told me that Canada and the USA would not get a medal,” Swedish forward Peter Forsberg said Thursday. “But after I got here and saw the way the (European) teams are playing, I am not very surprised.”

Sakic said the problem was that the overall talent level was much higher than it was in 2002, when Canada beat the United States for the gold and Belarus made the semifinals. Belarus couldn’t even qualify for these Olympics.

Slide show   Pictures of the Day Check out Sunday's best Olympic images.

Canada’s scarcity of speed was evident whenever Russian forward Alexander Ovechkin touched the puck. The 20-year-old Washington Capitals rookie always seemed to be a stride ahead of the Canadians, skating with an extra gear and a superstar’s playmaking presence they could not match.

Whether Spezza, Staal or, especially, Crosby could have given Canada such a dynamic force, Gretzky and coach Pat Quinn will never know. During several Capitals-Penguins games this season, the competitive Crosby seemed intent on proving he could not only match but surpass Ovechkin’s every brilliant move or imaginative play.

And Gretzky and Quinn thought grinders Shane Doan and Kris Draper were better suited for the Olympics?

“I suppose we’ll get second-guessed on the roster,” Quinn said.

Well, at least Canada will have Crosby, Spezza and Staal for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Whether Gretzky is around then, he’s not sure.

Gretzky said these Olympics took much out of him, occurring shortly after his mother and grandmother died and his Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach, Rick Tocchet, was charged for an alleged role in a sports betting ring that Gretzky’s wife may have patronized.

“Quite honestly, I’m going to reassess where I fit and what I’m going to do in the future,” Gretzky said. “Canada is wonderful, my country is great, and I love it dearly. But I’m also human, too. It’s tough and it’s nerve-racking. It’s not fun when you don’t win.”

Slide show   Emotional Moments Feb. 26: See photos of athletes' highs and lows from Sunday.

Especially when a team doesn’t come close to winning. Canada beat only one quality opponent, the Czech Republic, and was outscored by a combined 6-0 in a trio of 2-0 losses to Switzerland, Finland and Russia.

“Does this mean it’s the end of Canadian hockey? I don’t think so,” Gretzky said. “We’ll be back.”

Only the next time, don’t expect so many old legs to get them there.

MORE FROM ICE HOCKEY

Ice hockey Section Front

How Swede it is Lidstrom's goal lifts Sweden to gold Guerin backs Modano in wake of criticism Crosby still won't rip Canada officials Celizic: America's top 10 Olympic busts Vote: Most memorable hockey moment? An inside look at Olympic hockey Olympic men's hockey rosters Ice hockey Section Front   Add Ice hockey headlines to your news reader: