Take two proud hockey countries in a best-to-best final, add a huge dose of geopolitics to the comparison and then conclude the matchup with a historical overtime goal by the best player of the game. It is a recipe for a historical number of viewers and that is what we saw with the 3-2 overtime hours of Canada on the United States on Thursday at the 4 Nations Face-Off in Boston.
The game attracted an amazing 9.3 million viewers on ESPN, by Nielsen. To put this in perspective: that top game 7 of the NHL final between Boston and St. Louis in 2019 who attracted 8.9 million viewers on NBC-De Most viewed NHL game since the competition in 1995 returned to broadcast TV.
In Canada, Sportnet said that the game had an average of 5.7 million viewers and reached a peak at 7.3 million when Connor McDavid scored the OT winner. Add 1.18 million viewers on TVA, according to Adam Seaborn from Better Collective, and the game was on average nearly seven million viewers. The Canada population is 40 million.
So adding the two countries: the game attracted more than 16 million viewers in North America.
The earlier round match between the United States and Canada a 3-1 victory over Canada on a rock ‘EM Sock’ EM Saturday night in Montreal-average 4.4 million viewers on ABC and peaked with 5.2 million viewers in the quarter of 10:45 am. That was the most viewed Non-Stanley Cup Final Hockey broadcast in the US since a Blue Jackets-Bruins Playoff game on NBC in 2019 that amounted to an average of 4.5 million. The NHL said that the combined North American public was 10.1 million viewers for last Saturday’s competition.
The tournament clearly showed the wishes of hockey fans who have been dreaming best-on best for years. Next stop for best-on-best: the Olympic Games next year in Cortina-Milan.
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(Photo: Vorror Munho / Getty images)