The Great Canadian Ratings Report: Junior hockey scores big-time for TSN

Under normal circumstances, nothing beats Hockey Night In Canada when it comes to sports ratings. Usually the only events that topple the king of Canadian sports ratings are one-offs, such as the Super Bowl, Grey Cup, Olympic hockey and a world junior hockey final.

But here we are, still in the preliminary round of the world junior tournament, and Hockey Night In Canada is taking a thumping at the hands of the tournament that TSN built.

The world junior games involving Canada took the top three spots over the weekend, all surpassing the 2 million mark. Even more shocking was the 1 million drawn to the Boxing Day match between Finland and the U.S. --  the largest audience ever for a preliminary game not involving Canada.

More shocking in some ways was the fact that U.S.-Finland game drew more viewers than the early Hockey Night In Canada early broadcast, a show that has drawn more than 2 million viewers most of the season.

In many ways, it was a perfect Saturday night storm for TSN. By edict of the NHL, Hockey Night In Canada was devoid of its life support: not only were the Toronto Maple Leafs and their legion of loyal fans absent, but so were the Montreal Canadiens. Not to knock the Ottawa Senators and Winnipeg Jets, but they don't command the kind of folliowing the Leafs and Habs do.

Further sinking HNIC's fortunes was the fact that it basically went head-to-head against the Canada-Germany junior game -- which more than doubled the NHL audience. Imagine what would have happened had Canada been playing one of its main rivals that night. Hockey Night In Canada's background music would have been the sad sound of crickets chirping.

This is great news for TSN, of course, especially with Canada looking like a good bet to be in the final and maybe even to end that painful five-year gold medal drought. Audience numbers will only rise from here and the prospect of a Canada-U.S. or Canada-Russia final has TSN executives drooling in anticipation of possibly 4 or 5 million viewers.

Overall ratings could even set a record, if last weekend is any indication. Interest in the tournament is so high that Saturday's Slovakia-Finland game drew more viewers than Rogers' Sunday night game between Vancouver and Anaheim.

Interest is so high that TSN reports it was the most-watched channel in the country on the days that Canada's juniors played. That's pretty impressive for a specialty channel, even during the holiday season doldrums.

The tournament is resonating across the country, with French-language RDS averaging more than 500,000 viewers for Canada's games.

While Saturday night's results weren't business as usual for Hockey Night In Canada, the tall foreheads at Rogers have to be a little concerned. The flagship show has failed to top the 2 million mark for three straight Saturdays and finishing behind the likes of Slovakia and Finland doesn't look good for the much-touted Sunday night package.

Here are the most-watched sports events over the past weekend, according to Numeris overnight ratings:

1. World junior hockey, Canada vs. Slovakia, Friday, TSN: 2,478,000

2. World juniors, Canada vs. Finland, Monday, TSN: 2,240,000

3. World juniors, Canada vs. Germany, Saturday, TSN: 2,072,000

4. World juniors, Finland-U.S/Denmark-Russia., Friday, TSN: 1,123,000

5. NFL, Lions-Packers/Rams-Seahawks, Sunday, CTV: 1,093,000

6. NHL, Wings-Sens/Jets-Wild/Caps-Pens, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 899,000

7. NHL, Oilers-Flames/Sharks-Kings, Saturday, CBC-Sportsnet: 659,000

8. World juniors, Slovakia vs. Finland, Saturday, TSN: 611,000

9. NHL, Canucks at Ducks, Sunday, City: 569,000

10. NFL, Bengals at Steelers, Sunday, TSN: 542,000 (NBC viewers not measured)

11. NFL, Cowboys-Redskins/Chargers-Chiefs, Sunday, CTV: 505,000

12. World juniors, Denmark vs. Sweden, Saturday, TSN: 492,0000

13. World juniors, U.S. vs. Slovakia, Monday, TSN: 416,000

14. World juniors, U.S. vs Germany, Sunday, TSN2: 331,000

15. NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 308,000

16. NBA, Raptors at Spurs, Sunday, Sportsnet: 281,000

17. NBA, Raptors at Clippers, Saturday, Sportsnet: 224,000

18. World juniors, Sweden vs. Russia, Monday, TSN: 206,000

19. World juniors, Switzerland vs. Czech Republic, Friday, TSN: 200,000

20. NHL, Hometown Hockey pre-game, Sunday, City: 175,000

21. World juniors, Switzerland vs. Russia, Sunday, TSN2: 162,000

22. NFL, Falcons at Panthers,Sunday, TSN: 151,000

23. Spengler Cup hockey, Canada vs. Davos, Friday, TSN: 139,000

24. Soccer, EPL games, Friday, TSN: 127,000

25. World juniors, Switzerland vs. Czech Republic, Saturday, TSN: 124,000

THREE TO WATCH

Down to business:   Now that all the preliminary nonsense is out of the way, the world junior hockey championship tournament can get down to some serious business. Now is the time for teenager to become men and win or go home.  The quarterfinals start Friday at 1 p.m. ET (TSN) with the final being played Monday (8 p.m. ET, TSN).

Take me out to the hockey game: There was a time when an NHL game played outside was something novel. That's now slushy ice under the bridge after a series of outdoor games in the past few years. But there's still something different about, or at least that's what fans seem to think based on the high TV ratings. This year, it's Chicago and Washington facing off at a baseball stadium. Thursday, 1 p.m. ET (CBC and NBC.)

Wild times: It's wild card weekend in the NFL, a time when all those teams that wouldn't have made the playoffs a few decades ago get a chance to show that the season standings were all a mirage.  Of course, the fact that some have sneaked into the playoffs and then won the Super Bowl makes this more than a cash grab. The four-game weekend starts Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, CTV) with Arizona at Carolina.