NBC earned a 2.7 final Nielsen rating and 4.6 million viewers for Bruins-Canucks opener on Wednesday night, marking the most-viewed NHL Stanley Cup Final Game One since Fox averaged 5.1 million viewers for Stars-Sabres Game One in '99. The Bruins-Canucks rating is up 17% from the Blackhawks-Flyers opener last year, which earned a 2.3 rating (4.4 million viewers). This series is the first time since '07 that a Canadian team has played in the Stanley Cup Final, and the 2.7 rating for Bruins-Canucks Game One is up 145% from a 1.1 for a Saturday night airing of Game Three of the '07 Ducks-Senators series. That was the first game of the '07 series to air on NBC (THE DAILY). In Toronto, Kevin McGran reports viewership in the U.S. "was at its highest in and around Boston," with a 25.5 local rating. That was better than the local ratings for Game One of the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals last year, which drew a 19.1 rating. McGran: "Who says Americans don't care about hockey?" (TORONTO STAR, 6/3).
SETTING RECORDS UP NORTH: The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin reports the CBC averaged 5.6 million viewers for Bruins-Canucks Game One, producing the "highest-rated NHL viewership in the history of 'Hockey Night in Canada.'" The game peaked with 7.8 million viewers. The 5.6 million average audience "squashed the previous record of 4.96 million" set by Game Seven of the '94 Rangers-Canucks Stanley Cup Final, and the mark only trails the '02 Canada-U.S. Olympic Gold Medal game, which drew 8.96 million viewers, "as the highest-rated sports program in CBC history." CTV's coverage of last year's Canada-U.S. Gold Medal game at the Vancouver Games is the "top televised sports event in history with an average audience of 16.6 million" (GLOBE & MAIL, 6/3). French-language RDS also drew 714,000 viewers in Canada for Game One. The combined 10.9 million viewers across North America on all three broadcast networks is the most for the opening game of a Stanley Cup Final since records were first kept in '94. It also marks the fifth-highest combined viewership for any Final game since that time (THE DAILY).
DIFFERENT TREATMENT: In Boston, Chad Finn writes it is "no surprise" that the city's WHDH-NBC is "emphasizing the Bruins' appearance in the Stanley Cup Final" since it is an NBC affiliate. The station "sent sports director Joe Amorosino, reporter Rhett Lewis, and a pair of cameramen" to Vancouver. WBZ-CBS also "sent sports reporter Dan Roche and a cameraman, and the regional sports networks, NESN and Comcast SportsNet New England, have their usual flock of on- and off-air personnel." However, no one from WCVB-ABC was sent to Vancouver. WCVB Sports Dir Mike Lynch said, "I'm disappointed we're not there, but hopefully we can make it back for Game 5 and/or Game 7." Finn writes, "It's not just disappointing, it's downright inexcusable" (BOSTON GLOBE, 6/3).
LOOKING BACK: In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones reports Versus averaged a 7.8 local rating in the Tampa/St. Petersburg market for Game Seven of the Bruins-Lightning Eastern Conference Finals on May 27, marking the "best rating ever for Versus in the Tampa Bay market" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 6/3). In N.Y., Phil Mushnick writes the "handshake line at the end of a Stanley Cup series is logically among the easiest things for TV to show." When the two goalies "have been particularly good, as is often the case," networks should "stick with them as they approach each other, then meet." However, when Lightning G Dwayne Roloson approached Bruins G Tim Thomas after the Bruins' 1-0 win in Game Seven, Versus "cut to a so-what close-up" of Bruins RW Nathan Horton. Mushnick: "By the time we saw the Thomas-Roloson meeting it was over" (N.Y. POST, 6/3).
