St. Louis' 41.8 rating marked NBC's best Blues figure ever in the market as the team won its first Stanley CupGETTY IMAGES
NBC drew a 6.2 overnight rating for the Blues’ win over the Bruins last night in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, marking the best overnight on record for an NHL game (figures date back to ’94). The previous record was a 5.8 for the Cup-clinching Blackhawks-Flyers Game 6 in ’10. The most-recent Cup Final Game 7 -- Bruins-Canucks in ’11 -- drew a 5.7 overnight on a Thursday night. Last night’s game peaked at a 7.3 rating from 10:15-10:30pm ET. St. Louis drew a 41.8 local rating, marking NBC’s best Blues game ever in the market. Boston drew a 30.2 local rating, down from a 43.4 for Game 7 in ’11. Rounding out the top five markets were Providence (24.4), Buffalo (14.0) and K.C. (10.1). Looking beyond the NHL, the top overnight on record for any hockey game (also dating back to ’94) was a 17.6 rating for Canada’s overtime win over the U.S. in the Gold Medal game at the ’10 Vancouver Games (Austin Karp, THE DAILY). In Buffalo, Alan Pergament notes Buffalo throughout the Final "had the highest ratings in any TV market" outside of the two home territories, which includes Providence. That comes despite the fact that "many Western New Yorkers prefer to watch CBC's coverage of the Final," which is not rated in the U.S. (BUFFALONEWS.com, 6/13).
EMRICK ON TOP OF HIS GAME: Praise was quick to come in from Twitter for NBC's Mike Emrick, who called last night's game alongside Eddie Olczyk. Philadelphia-based WIP-FM's Glen Macnow: "I’ll say it again, Doc Emrick is the best play-by-play guy in any sport, anywhere." ESPN's Kevin Negandhi: "Doc Emrick is so ridiculously good at his job." NFL Network's Rich Eisen: "Another play by play clinic from Emrick, who just delivered a perfectly crisp description of end to end action, talking non-stop for 5 straight minutes. And I wanted more." Atlanta-based WZGC-FM's Mike Conti: "Mike Emrick just gave five minutes of shotgun play-by-play without taking a breath. We are not worthy." TNT's Ernie Johnson: "Born to call game 7– mike Emrick." SEC Network's Tom Hart: "There is no one better at weaving history and tradition into a game than Doc Emrick." WDRB-Fox' Marcus Green: "Doc Emrick describing f-bombs as 'exultation language' is one of my favorite things ever. What a legend." Radio producer Andrew Perloff: "'Exultation language' ... Doc Emrick is the Best." Toledo-based WTOL-CBS' Jordan Strack: "Doc Emrick is a national treasure and should be treated as such." Bulls radio announcer Chuck Swirsky: "In my next life I want to be Doc Emrick." Mediaite's Joe DePaolo: "There’s a case to be made for Doc Emrick as the greatest announcer who ever lived. Any sport. And this is coming from someone who’s not really a hockey fan." The AP's Tim Reynolds: "I’d like to hear Mike Breen and Doc Emrick broadcast something together once, please. Nothing is worthy of both of them simultaneously, but let’s make it happen" (TWITTER.com, 6/12).
SWITCHING HORSES: With the Stanley Cup Playoffs now over, Olczyk for the first time will join NBCSN's coverage of the Royal Ascot horse racing festival in England later this month. Olczyk "already bounces back and forth during the spring between the NHL playoffs and horse racing's Triple Crown," having been part of that coverage for the last five years (AP, 6/11).
