The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin reports Ottawa-based Mediamiser is "scraping and analyzing the approximately 1.3 million hockey tweets produced since" the NHL lockout began on Sept. 15. Mediamiser’s findings show that the "difference in opinion between negative and positive tweets was remarkably close." Approximately 16% of the messages "recorded about hockey till the Jan. 6, 2013, settlement were negative towards the league and players" versus 12% positive. But by January, with a "settlement imminent, opinion flipped." The breakdown "was 22-per-cent positive and 16-per-cent negative." One thing that "did not move the needle, however, was NHL commissioner Gary Bettman’s apology to fans in early January for all the damage the labour dispute had caused" (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/25).
RATINGS WATCH: NHL Network's inaugural "Wednesday Night Rivalry" game between the Bruins and Rangers drew 956,000 viewers, marking the net's most-watched regular-season game ever. The previous record was set in last season's Flyers-Bruins season-opener, which attracted 874,000 viewers. Wednesday's game also was the most-watched regular-season game on cable in 11 years, when the Sharks-Red Wings drew 1.28 million viewers on ESPN (NHL). In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes the average rating for the Blues' first three games "is strong." The average local rating "was 6.5, more than triple the 2.0 figure at the same point last season." In contrast, the first three Blues' telecasts in the '05-06 season -- the first following the previous lockout ended -- "had an average rating of 2.2" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 1/25).
TURNING OVER A NEW LEAF: SiriusXM's "Hockey Night In Canada" Radio host Gord Stellick "has left" to return to Sportsnet Radio's The Fan 590 in Toronto as host for its Maple Leafs coverage (GLOBE & MAIL, 1/25).
