Vancouver the Final Day: And now, back to reality

So how was that for a finish? Now we can all breathe again and prepare for the horrifying thought of watching NHL hockey after being treated to the sport at its best.

Ratings for Sunday's game won't be in until Monday, but they will be huge and will set a Canadian record. They'll probably also set a hockey record for NBC.

They will cap 17 days of record ratings for the CTV-Rogers consortium.

The consortium reports that 99 per cent of the Canadian population has watched the Olympics on its many platforms, which makes you wonder exactly what  the other 1 per cent was watching. _{Masterpiece Theatre}? The Shopping Channel?

It had another solid day Saturday, with 6.9 million viewers watching Kevin Martin's curling victory and 5.3 witnessing Jasey Jay Anderson's snowboard gold.

Interesting fact from the consortium: The most-viewed athlete on its website Saturday were figure skater Joannie Rochette and curlers Martin and Cheryl Bernard. Somehow we get the feeling the top spots Sunday will be taken up by hockey players.

THE GOOD: CTV's Chris Cuthbert and Pierre McGuire hit pretty much all the right notes during the gold medal hockey game. McGuire's line describing Sidney Crosby's game-winning goal ``and an entire nation is relieved" really summed up the entire game.  Great work also by CTV to get some superb views of crowds watching the game around the country. A post-game series of gatherings was superb. The overhead shots of Robson Square and other venues said it all. ...  NBC's Al Michaels after Don Cherry, a vision in red velvet, expounded on how the game would go, including his opinions on that ``Lalongo" guy: ``I never knew that Feb. 28 was Halloween in Canada." ... NBC's Mike Milbury heading into the game: ``There are two, maybe three guys on the U.S. team who could make Team Canada." ... The beauty of having a guy between the benches.  McGuire reported early in the first period that Canada coach Mike Babcock was telling his players to get more pucks on net and cease with the fancy stuff. You don't get that kind of stuff in the broadcast booth. ... Watching the game on CTV, the sound mix made me feel as if I were in the stands. On NBC, I felt like I was in the parking lot. ... NBC used slow motion and stop-action to illustrate why things were happening the way they were. In the second period, Ed Olczyk showed how Ryan Kesler got too close to Brian Rafalski on the point, letting Canada's Rick Nash to break up a pass. ... Nick Kypreos, after Kesler told CTV reporter Ryan Rishaug that Vancouver Canucks teammate Roberto Luongo was fighting the puck just as he expected: ``I think Kesler forgot that he has to go to work Monday morning." ... Good discussion by Chris Cuthbert and McGuire on why Ryan Getzlaf was taking a key last-minute faceoff in the Canadian end despite having the lowest faceoff percentage on the team. .... Good analysis from the studio panel on how Canada was forced into overtime because it sat back and tried to protect the lead.

THE BAD: When did ``O Canada" become a commercial jingle? There are now two ads using our anthem to sell burgers and bread. ... Does CTV honcho Ivan Fecan have a Conservative Party membership card in his wallet? How else to explain the camera time given to PM Stephen Harper, who has revealed the real reason he prorogued Parliament? ... Huh? Pierre McGuire after a U.S. penalty: ``Corey Perry just got a mouthful of stick right in the head." ...

Comments

[Mullah_Kintyre]

While the return to mundane NHL games may be a let down, sports media can now stop pretending to care about all those other sports everyone will ignore for the next 3 years and 11 months.

[dveous]

I liked the shots of celebrations around the country, but I thought they appeared at the worst possible times! During the anthem, as the camera panned across team Canada, they cut away - twice! - to people cheering?? We didn't even see Crosby during the anthem!

[Anna]

How about the CTV commentators talking through the whole medal ceremony? Ugh, way too in love with the sound of their own voices there. It would have been so much better if they'd let us hear the arena announcer giving everyone's name, like they did with the women's ceremony, and just appreciate the moment without all the blather.

[paul macintyre]

A good job by the broadcast commentators? Really? The best Kypreos can do is mimic the comments of Kesler's intermission comments. And he's an analyst? Did you hear how he described a deflcted shot on goal that rebounded to the front of the net as an intentional play by Kesler, citing his familiarity of the rink? It was an obvious attempted shot on net that took a fortuitous bounce. And the whole broadcast crew criticizing the Canadian Team for playin defensive hockey for the final 15 minutes!!! Excuse me, experts, but that strategy did work. The Canadians still out chanced the US through the third period and the tying goal was scored when it was 6 on 5, with the US playing balls out, last gasp, desperation hockey. Let's hope that this crew retires before 2014. What an embarassment.

[Lino Guerreiro]

So Al Michael's jab on Don Cherry's suit was okay? I disagree. It was uncalled for, and only worked the angle on Americans being ignorant, pompous, and just downright intolerable. NBC's coverage, on the whole, was ridiculous. Just look at their coverage of the closing cermony.

[concernedcanadian]

Ignorant, pompous, and just downright intolerable are usually words to describe Mr. Cherry himself.

[The Zeb]

Part of Cherry's tired schtick is intentionally mispronouncing names, particularly if they are "foreign". This is two entries in a row that mention how he calls Luongo "Lalongo" - let's not encourage this intentional ignorance of his. Playing dumb is not becoming on a grown man.

[Tim]

IMO ... Duthey's and Onrait's stars got A LOT bright through the games. Great work both of them. on the other side of the coin, on a panel with Hodge, Pang and McKenzie, Kypreos was WAY out of his league.
Kinda like putting Don Cherry on panel with Stephen Hawking and David Bohm.

Like Cherry, Kypreos is a relic.

[Rick Grace]

16.6 million watched the gold medal hockey game.
Yet all I've been reading in certain Toronto papers is how hockey is supposedly losing its appeal in this country.
That minorities won't watch. That younger Canadians are more into basketball?
So much for those theories eh?