2011 Stanley Cup Finals: Vancouver and Boston Set Record TV Ratings

Remember a few weeks ago, when it was commonly prognosticated that the Vancouver Canucks making the Stanley Cup Finals was going to be the worst outcome for the NHL in terms of Gary Bettman's holy grail, NBC ratings?

Yeah, it turns out that the Canucks were actually a positive influence for the NHL's ratings.

On NBC, the Canucks and Bruins combined for 4.6 million viewers nationally, which translated into a 3.2 rating. That was better than any other Stanley Cup Final Game 1 since 1999.

To put that in perspective, the Canucks and Bruins on a Wednesday night did three percent better than the Chicago Blackhawks and Philadelphia Flyers did last year in their Game 1, which was on a Saturday night.

In 2009, the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, with all their stars, opened off their Stanley Cup Finals on a Saturday night as well. The Canucks and Bruins did six percent better than that series on NBC.

Obviously having a Pacific coast team, and a Canadian one to boot, hasn't hurt the ratings.

North of the border, CBC's venerable Hockey Night in Canada recorded their best ratings in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals ever, with 5.6 million viewers. 

The previous record was Game 1 of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals featuring the Mark Messier-led New York Rangers versus Trevor Linden and the Vancouver Canucks.

Coincidence?

Canadians love their hockey, as shown by those numbers.

But let's not forget that Boston is an original-six franchise with proud roots.

In Boston, the Bruins had a 25.5 rating, which eclipsed the 19.1 rating for Game 1 of the 2010 NBA Finals between the Celtics and Lakers.

All in all, I think the NHL is pretty happy with the ratings in Game 1, and they should be able to build on them on Saturday night for Game 2. 

Too bad they will then squander the ratings momentum with Games 3 and 4 being on Versus and not NBC proper, but that is another story.