The Great Canadian Ratings Report: World juniors should be great news for TSN

For the past two decades, the world junior hockey tournament has been a wonderful Christmas present for TSN, producing monster ratings and filling schedules at a time of year previously dominated by football games involving obscure institutions of higher learning.

As important as the tournament has been to TSN's well-being, recent developments have raised this annual battle of teenaged hockey players to even loftier heights. One is the fact that this year's event is in Canada after two Christmases in Europe  produced lower-than-normal ratings. Then there was that whole Rogers NHL thing that has left the cupboard holding TSN's winter schedule a tad bare.

That's why this year's tournament in Montreal and Toronto is likely to mean good news for TSN. For one, Canada's chances of ending a five-year gold medal drought are looking up after the addition of Curtis Lazar and the return to action of hot prospect Connor McDavid. There's nothing like a winner to drive ratings, which have sagged along with Canada's fortunes the past few winters.

Last year, for example, Canada's semifinal exit last year did well by normal sports standards, drawing an average of 2.7 million viewers. But by world junior standards, that was a disappointment. After all, when the record is 6.2 million (set in 2011) and the tournament is responsible for nine of TSN's 15 top audiences, it's not hard to see that the early exit cost the network a lot of viewers.

The past two tournaments -- held in Russia and Sweden -- averaged barely half of North American championship audiences.

Add in the fact that this year's tournament is in Canada, meaning none of those pre-dawn games or weekday afternoon contests, and TSN is looking at a potential gold mine. With all of Canada's games in prime time, things look promising.

An indication of what might come was last Friday's Canada-Russia pre-tournament game. The meaningless faceoff averaged 480,00 viewers -- putting it sixth among the most-watched sports events of the weekend.

When the games start for real on Boxing Day (Canada vs. Slovakia, 8 ET), the audience numbers will soar well above that.

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

1. NHL, Flyers-Leafs/Sens-Habs/Lightning-Isles, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 1,800,000

2. NFL, Bills-Raiders/Colts-Cowboys, Sunday, CTV: 978,000

3. NHL, Flames at Canucks, Saturday, CBC: 858,000

4. NFL, Pats-Jets/Chiefs-Steelers, Sunday, CTV: 795,000

5. NHL, Leafs at Blackhawks, Sunday, City: 782,000

6. World junior hockey, Canada vs. Russia, Friday, TSN: 480,000

7. NHL, Hockey Night In Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC-Rogers: 465,000

8. NFL, Seahawks at Cardinals, Sunday, TSN: 460,000 (NBC viewers not measured)

9. NFL, Eagles at Redskins, Saturday, Sportsnet: 427,000

10. NBA, Knicks at Raptors, Sunday, Sportsnet: 286,000

11. NFL, Chargers at 49ers, Saturday, Sportsnet: 264,000 (CBS viewers not measured)

12. World junior hockey, Canada vs. Sweden, Sunday, TSN: 252,000

13. Figure skating, ISU Grand Prix, Sunday, CBC: 218,000

14. NFL, Giants at Rams, Sunday, TSN: 217,000

15. NFL, Vikings at Dolphins, Sunday, TSN: 209,000

16. NHL, Hometown Hockey pre-game, Sunday, City: 196,000

17. UFC, Machida vs. Dollaway, Saturday, Sportsnet360: 182,000

18. Soccer, Premier League games, Saturday, TSN: 172,000

19. Soccer, Arsenal at Liverpool, Sunday, Sportsnet: 160,000

20. Figure skating, ISU Grand Prix, Saturday, CBC: 148,000

22. Hockey, World Junior A Challenge, Saturday, TSN: 145,000

22. Equestrian, Grand Slam of Geneva, Saturday, CBC: 129,000

23. Skiing, World Cup men's downhill, Saturday, CBC: 104,000

THREE TO WATCH

Merry hoops day: In full appreciation of the importance of Christmas Day, the NBA continues with its traditional slate of games. This year's gift to basketball fans features a full slate of action starting just around the time you finishing opening your gifts and start yelling at the kids. The festive action starts at noon ET (TSN.)

Kicking Day: It's called Boxing Day, but fight fans will be disappointed to learn that there isn't one bout scheduled. There is, however, plenty of English soccer. TSN has an English Premier League doubleheader starting at 7:45 a.m. ET, while Sportsnet's twinbill kicks off at 9:30 a.m.

A Christmas miracle? As the NFL schedule comes to a close, there are plenty of intriguing possibilities. But possibly the most intriguing involves the perennially pathetic Detroit Lions, who can clinch a division title for the first time in two decades. But their challenge is made even more difficult by the fact that they'll need to win in Green Bay, a place they haven't left with good feelings since 1991. Sunday, 4:25 ET (Fox.)