NO MEDAL, BUT I GOT A GODZILLA LIGHTER

U.S. athletes are going to need more bags to carry home all the goodies they’ve received here from various corporations.

“I got four bags full of stuff,” U.S. hockey defenseman Chris Chelios said. “I’ve got to FedEx some of it back early because I can’t carry it all.”

Maybe he can’t. Federal Express isn’t one of the official Olympic sponsors.

The Canadian hockey team is also unsure what to do with all the clothes and souvenirs players and officials have received. Pierre Gauthier of the Ottawa Senators, Canada’s assistant general manager, said he had gotten three coats and more sweaters than he could count.

“Maybe we’ll take all this home and auction it off for charity,” he said. “We can’t use all this stuff.”

IT’S MORE FUN LOSING WHEN NO ONE CARES

Chie Sokuma, the Houston-born defenseman who plays for the Japanese women’s hockey team, has been impressed by the loyalty of the small but loud band of fans that has attended games involving Japan’s men’s and women’s teams.

They must be loyal: The women have been outscored, 40-2, in losing all four games. The men finally won a game Thursday, defeating Austria in a shootout.

“They’ve been great. No matter how far behind we are, they keep cheering and beating on their drums,” she said. “I’ve even seen them in Europe, when we played in Switzerland.”

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? MAYBE!

When is winning only one game in a tournament an encouraging event?

When you play for the Japanese men’s team. Hockey is still in its formative stages here and the country had not sent a team to the Olympics since 1980.

“Our players had tears in their eyes in the dressing room after the game,” Dave King, Japan’s general manager, said after the team’s 4-3 triumph. “Our goal was to win at least one game in this tournament and all of us worked so hard for this. . . . We scored three points [with a tie and a victory]. I think that’s a little miracle.”

THIS ITEM SPONSORED BY “UP WITH PEOPLE”

Former King Tony Granato was among the happiest of the 5,015 spectators at Aqua Wing on Thursday when the U.S. women’s team routed Japan, 8-0.

Granato, who now plays for the San Jose Sharks, is the oldest brother of U.S. right wing Cammi Granato--and he couldn’t have been more proud if he had been on the ice himself.

“From a hockey standpoint, this is our most exciting thing that has happened as a family,” he said. “For so many years, everyone came together at my games. Now, we’ve come together for Cammi.

“This is the first time women are competing for a medal and the first tournament the men are having a real championship. From a hockey standpoint, it’s great.”

He doesn’t even mind that Cammi has outscored him, 2-1, in Olympic play. Tony played on the 1988 men’s team at Calgary, which also included current Olympians Mike Richter and Brian Leetch. “Yeah, but I also had seven assists. I was a playmaker then,” he said.