The NHL returned to action on Wednesday after a 17-day hiatus during its Olympic break. Today, THE DAILY compares announced attendance at the 15 games played Wednesday and Thursday with the team's home average as of February 8, the beginning of the Olympic Break (THE DAILY):
| TEAM | 2/25
ATTEN. | 2/9
AVE. | % +/- | | TEAM | 2/26
ATTEN. | 2/9
AVE. | % +/- |
| MON | 21,173 | 20,673 | + 2% | CHI | 18,226 | 17,709 | + 3% |
| DET | 19,983 | 19,983 | 0% | SJS | 17,483 | 17,045 | + 2% |
| BUF | 18,595 | 14,923 | + 25% | COL | 16,061 | 16,061 | 0% |
| VAN | 18,422 | 17,221 | + 7% | TOR | 15,726 | 15,703 | 0% |
| PHO | 16,210 | 15,096 | + 7% | BOS | 15,584 | 14,638 | + 6% |
| EDM | 16,142 | 16,054 | + .5% | TAM | 12,163 | 13,687 | - 1% |
| FLA | 14,703 | 14,703 | 0% | | | | |
| WAS | 12,137 | 15,490 | - 22% | | | | |
| NYI | 10,753 | 12,416 | - 13% | | | | |
AN OBSERVATION: In N.Y., the OBSERVER's Nick Paumgarten, a self-described hockey purist, comments on the marketing of the league by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: "Fortunately, for all Mr. Bettman's strenuous efforts to turn hockey into a hot commodity, the game remains a marginal form of entertainment, like cockfights or poetry." Paumgarten says that since Bettman started in '93, "he has subjected the game to marketing experiments and revenue enhancements that have managed to drive the purists bonkers without really increasing the game's profile -- third jerseys, pucks that glow on TV, dancing robots" (Nick Paumgarten, N.Y. OBSERVER, 3/2 issue).
