Game 1 TV ratings, both in Canada and the US

[Jazz]

CBC draws 3.063 million viewers for Tuesday's Game 1 of Stanley Cup final[/b][/u]

Canadian Press
Source: www.canada.com/sports/hockey/nhlplayoffs2004/story.html?id=261FCB6D-6F2C-423E-A118-DBBC86735710
Wednesday, May 26, 2004

TORONTO (CP) - Canadians are tuning in to see the Calgary Flames but Americans are tuning out.

CBC drew 3.063 million viewers for Tuesday's broadcast of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup final, making it the second-highest rated NHL game ever for the network. Only Game 7 of the 1994 final between Vancouver and the New York Rangers drew more viewers, with 4.957 million tuning in to watch the 3-2 Rangers win. Game 1 of that series drew 2.6 million fans.

Calgary won Tuesday's game in Tampa 4-1. Game 2 is Thursday.

Last year's Game 1 between New Jersey and Anaheim drew 1.29 million viewers.

The record audience for a sporting event in Canada, with more than 10 million English and French-language CBC viewers, was the Canadian men's gold medal hockey win over the U.S. at the 2002 Salt Lake Olympics.

It was a different story in the U.S., where Tuesday's game tied for the lowest-rated Stanley Cup final game on ESPN since 1990. Game 1 was watched by an average of 1,013,000 people. That translates into a rating of 1.1, which is down from 1.4 for last year's first game. Of the 34 Stanley Cup final games the network has televised since 1990, only Game 2 of last year's series between New Jersey and Anaheim had a rating as low.
© Copyright 2004 The Canadian Press

[roots]

what the americans aren't watching colour me surprised! i missed viewing the game ..work beckoned. but i heard the dreaded 't' word [trap] bandied about by Mcguire and Company on Tsn. say it ain't so?

[aj]

I watched the game, and I wouldn't call what the Flames were doing a full-on trap. They did become a bit more defensive after going up 3-0, but who wouldn't. Just because you have 3 guys on your blueline ready to stop the other team breaking in doesn't mean you're playing the trap. The Flames didn't totally fall back into defensive mode, either. They kept the pressure on the Bolts, and their forechecking was amazing. Nothing like outnumbering the other team along the boards in their own zone!

[roots]

thank god, i was afraid for just a sec this series was going to get seriously dull..

[diabolik]

in France , we see the games at 2 A.M
huhuhu .... i will see the game 2 , i will sleep at 5

[aj]

I'm in England, so it's pretty much the same for me.
I ususally just tape the games and watch them before going to work, though.
But I think Game 3 Saturday night will be very exciting, so I might stay up to watch it.

[roots]

i can relate..im east coast..my teams west coast 2300 game starts..have to be to work at 6 am..makes for a long ugly season.not to worry chronic sleep deprivation is good for you.. isn't it?

[sammy]

Living in Alberta, the Flames are the talk of the town. Everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and there are Flames flags flying eveywhere.
3 million viewers for the first game. That works out to about 1/10 of the population of the country. If a game 7 has to be played, I wouldn't be too surprised to see that rise to rival the 2002 Olympics for viewers. On Thursday night we postponed our baseball game so we could watch the hockey game.

[sammy]

A good story from the Edmonton Sun
PROUD OF HIS CONSTITUENTS

Sutter also spent a significant amount of time talking about his constituents in the province of Alberta.

Never in the history of the Stanley Cup has a game sold out both buildings like Game 2 in Tampa Bay and Calgary. The Saddledome was full to capacity as fans watched the game on the Videotron. Hundreds of others were turned away.

"I think that's pretty fabulous. I think that tells you how our city and how Alberta is excited about it and wants to watch it and get out and have a good time with it. Heck, my wife was on 17th Avenue last night,'' Sutter said of the Red Mile where 35,000 gathered in the rain when the Flames won Game 6 of the Western Conference Final.

"Lucky I beat her home, eh?'' he laughed of the Flames charter arriving at 4 a.m.

Apparently things have been getting a little carried away on the strip of bars where Flames fans choose to parade after games. Let's just say that the success ratio of "Show me your pride, show me your (breasts)" is said to be higher than the Flames' power play.

"My daughter told me that,'' said Sutter.

I'm not sure if he knows some of his players have actually been called upon to autograph that particular part of the anatomy of female Flames fans.

Sutter was asked about it all being a distraction - not the breasts, all the other stuff now that the Flames are home for Games 3 and 4.

"I don't think it's a distraction at all,'' he said. "I think it's great for everybody. I think it's been great since the beginning. Being able to go to Vancouver and seeing how great their fans were, that kind of got ours going. Our fans have been great. It's not just the Calgary fans now. It's the hockey fan now.''

The media charter of 160 in a bus convoy from the airport drove past a pickup truck pulling a chuckwagon decorated in Flames logos. That's a sight you don't see in Tampa Bay. You can't go anywhere now without visual evidence of Stanley Cup fever.

So far an NHL record 55,000 Flames sweaters have been sold - 40,000 since the start of the playoffs. The count of car flags sold was over 120,000 last week.

An American media member asked about the difference in terms of the fever in Calgary compared to Tampa Bay.

"Well, you've got to remember that Calgary is Canada. It's our game," said Sutter.

"They're going to get excited. Hey, if it was Edmonton; if Edmonton was in the Stanley Cup final, I'd be excited. I'd be one of the Albertans pulling for them and getting excited about it. It's part of the deal. It's great for them to be able to experience this in May and early June.''

Sutter reminds us how this season began.

"To have the Heritage Classic in Edmonton and now the Stanley Cup final in Calgary ... it's great for our province.

"The way the Oilers handled it, the job they did on the Heritage Classic, they may hold others, but nobody will get close to that,'' he said of the affair which featured 60,000 fans sitting in bone-chilling weather for seven hours to watch Wayne Gretzky and the MegaStars and then the Edmonton Oilers vs. the Montreal Canadiens in the first-ever outdoor regular season NHL game.

HARD TO MATCH ALL THIS

Like the Heritage Classic, it's hard to picture any city, even Edmonton, matching this.

The strange thing considering this rivalry, which inspired a Mason-Dixon line down the middle of a bar in Red Deer in the '80s, is that both cities have been visibly happy for each other.

"Normally, when Edmonton prevails, Calgary is down and when Calgary prevails, Edmonton is down,'' said Flames president Ken King. "This hasn't happened before.''

Martin told the half-dozen players who participated in yesterday's photo-op, "the whole country is cheering for you. I was in Montreal and people on the streets were wearing Flames sweaters. I was just up in Edmonton. I can't believe they're all cheering for you. You are Canada's team.''

So why would the Flames allow themselves to be used by Martin on the campaign trail?

"We're very open-minded about who is able to adopt us,'' laughed King.

[marrella]

Frankly, I was surprised to see the US stats down for this series. Pretty much everyone I know and talk to around the country is thrilled not to have to watch Detroit. I guess, however, some of those Detroit and Philly fans have bailed out.

Personally, I think this is a very exciting playoff series. I'm still torn ... would love to have a SE Division team win the Cup and would like to see Andreychuk, Lecavalier and St. Louis win it as well. On the other hand, I love the Flames and would love Iginla and ex Cane Marty Gelinas to take home the Cup. And with a bow to my Canadian friends, it's time for the Cup to be back in Cananda!

So from my perspective, I can't lose! I'll be happy with either team winning.

[hockeynomad]

Unofficially the number one ratings for a hockey game in Canada was game 8 in 1972 Canada - Soviet series. The game was played on a thursday and started at 12:30 PM eastern.
But it was watched by an estimated 16 million! I was in school and no one studied, and people at work didn't work.