The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Big numbers for Canadian networks

The past week produced some pretty notable television ratings from the wide world of sports. Huge audiences -- no doubt boosted by those seeking shelter from that polar vortex -- made it a very Happy New Year for Canadian sports broadcasting executives.

The number that stands out most if the NHL Winter Classic between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. It was a record for one of those annual Jan. 1 outdoor games and was also the largest audience for a non-playoff NHL game in Canadian broadcast history.

But that doesn't tell the whole story about how big the Winter Classic was. The ratings didn't include those who chose to watch on NBC -- fear of Don Cherry? -- so it's safe to say that more than 4 million Canadians watched the game.

Equally impressive were the world junior championship and NFL playoff audiences.

The biggest number from the junior tournament was the Canada-Finland semifinal game on Saturday, which averaged 2.7 million viewers in becoming the most-watched world junior game played outside Canada. But the most impressive number in my books was the tournament final between Sweden and Finland, which drew more than 1 million viewers.

Canadians tend to lose interest when their team isn't involved, so that number will have TSN licking its corporate lips in anticipation of next year's tournament in Canada.

That all-Scandiavian final more than doubled last year's final audience, which featured Russia and Sweden, and was the highest tournament rating ever for a game played outside North America not involving Canada.

TSN can only weep at what might have been had Canada made the final. Still, it had to celebrate the fact that Team Canada games averaged 1.5 million viewers -- double last year's.

The NFL playoffs produced some big numbers for CTV, with the San Francisco-Green Bay thriller on Sunday hitting almost 1.6 million. The New Orleans-Philadelphia game also broke the million mark.

For those who keep track of these things, the CFL's semifinal weekend produced audiences of 1.6 and 1.45 million.

One other number stands out and that was Monday's BCS Championship game, which was exclusive to TSN in Canada. It averaged 370,000 on a night when it had no competition among sports fans. That's not a terrible number, but does indicate that U.S. college football isn't as big a hit in Canada as a lot of people would have you think.

Here are the most-watched sports events of the holiday week, according to BBM Canada overnight ratings:

1. NHL, Winter Classic, Leafs at Wings, Wednesday, CBC: 3,572,000 (NBC audience not calculated)

2. World junior semifinal, Canada vs. Finland, Saturday, TSN: 2,681,000

3. NHL, Rangers-Leafs, Sens-Habs, Saturday, CBC: 1,640,000

4. NFL, 49ers at Packers, Sunday, CTV: 1,588,000

5. NFL, Saints at Eagles, Saturday, CTV: 1,121,000

6. World junior, final, Sweden vs. Finland, Sunday, TSN: 1,016,000

7. NFL, Chiefs at Colts, Saturday, CTV: 997,000

8. World junior, semifinal, Russia vs. Sweden, Saturday, TSN: 945,000

9. World junior, bronze game, Canada vs. Russia, Sunday, TSN: 915,000

10. NHL, Canucks at Kings, Saturday, CBC: 890,000

11. NFL, Chargers at Bengals, Sunday, CTV: 869,000

12. NHL, Canucks at Ducks, Sunday, Sportsnet Pacific: 414,000

13. NCAA football, Florida State vs. Auburn, Monday, TSN: 370,000

14. Hockey, World Under-17 Challenge, Saturday, TSN: 292,000

15. NBA, Raptors at Heat, Sunday, TSN: 236,000

16. NHL, 24/7 Road to the Winter Classic, Sunday, Sportsnet: 203,000

17. NHL, Lightning at Oilers, Sunday, Sportsnet West: 190,000

18. Skiing, women's alpine, Saturday, CBC: 157,000

19. Ski jumping, women's, Saturday, CBC: 140,000

THREE TO WATCH

The real battle of the blades: With the Sochi Olympics only four weeks and nine time zones away, the Canadian Figure Skating Championships offer a perfect opportunity to brush up on the difference between a triple salchow and a double axel. At stake are the 17 spots allotted to Canada for Sochi. Coverage starts Friday at 3 p.m. EST on TSN and continues through Sunday on TSN, TSN2 and CTV.

The real sweeps week: It's a pretty big weekend for fans of the roaring game, with provincial women's curling championships being played out across the country at the same time as a $100,000 skins game is being contested in Banff. The choices get even tougher when TSN airs, no kidding, a curling draft show on Friday night (8 p.m. EST) to set up the skins weekend, which starts Saturday at 1 p.m. EST. Sportsnet has the Manitoba, Alberta and B.C. championship tournaments starting Saturday at 7 p.m. EST.

Roller-coaster ride to the Super Bowl: After a wild-and-crazy wild card weekend, the NFL will be hard-pressed to match that sky-high entertainment level in the divisional playoffs this weekend. New Orleans and Seattle square off on Saturday (4:40 p.m. EST) while Indianapolis takes on New England after that. On Sunday, the 49ers meet the Panthers (1 p.m. EST) with San Diego visiting Denver after that. All games CTV and TSN.