Canadiens become Canada's team for a while

It's long been assumed that the Toronto Maple Leafs, for reasons apparently not connected to logic, are Canada's team.

They consistently draw the highest TV ratings, thanks mainly to a large Southern Ontario populace that bleeds blue and white regardless of the team's ineptitude. (Maybe the bleeding comes from being kicked in the wallet repeatedly for the better part of 40 years.)They also have a huge following across the country, as witnessed by the number of Leaf jerseys worn in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa.

But maybe, just maybe, the Leafs' hold on Canadian hockey fans is slipping. Maybe, just maybe, their legion of slavish fans are noticing that other Canadian teams are worthy of their loyalty.

The evidence lies in the returns from the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs, where the Montreal Canadiens have been drawing huge ratings. Saturday's game against the Washington Capitals drew an average of 2.1 million viewers to TSN, a strong but not an overwhelming number and one the Leafs have topped during the regular season. 

But another 1.3 million watched the game on French-language RDS -- an impressive  39 per cent of the Quebec French market.

This attention will probably pass if the Habs fail to come back in the series and Quebecois interest  dissipates. But with a Saturday night audience focused on the Canadiens, it's possible that some viewers will have noticed that there's at least one other team worth cheering for in this country.

On the other hand, things will probably return to normal the first time the Leafs score a pre-season goal.

 Here are the top weekend sports ratings on English-language television, according to BBM Canada overnight calculations:

1. NHL, Kings at Canucks, Saturday, CBC: 2,135,000

2. NHL, Canadiens at Capitals, Saturday, TSN: 2,100,000

3. NHL, Senators at Penguins, Friday, CBC: 1,912,000

4. NHL, Penguins at Senators, Sunday, CBC: 1,690,000

5. NHL, Red Wings at Coyotes, Friday, TSN: 877,000

6. NHL, Coyotes at Red Wings, Sunday, TSN: 829,000*

7. NHL, Predators at Blackhawks, Sunday, TSN: 815,000

8. NHL, Devils at Flyers, Sunday, TSN: 788,000

9. NHL, Avalanche at Sharks, Friday, CBC: 784,000

10. NHL, Bruins at Sabres, Saturday, CBC: 722,000*

11. NHL, Sharks at Avalanche, Sunday, CBC: 708,000

12. NHL, Flyers at Devils, Friday, TSN: 599,000

13. Curling, Grand Slam men's final, Sunday, CBC: 484,000

14. Baseball, Angels at Blue Jays, Sunday, Sportsnet: 481,000

15. Swimming, World synchronized championships, Saturday, CBC: 447,000

16. Curling, Grand Slam women's final, Saturday, CBC: 427,000

17. Baseball, Angels at Blue Jays, Saturday, Sportsnet: 354,000

18. Baseball, Angels at Blue Jays, Friday, Sportsnet: 324,000

19. PGA, Verizon Heritage final round, Sunday, Global-CBS: 292,000

* Viewers on NBC not calculated

OTHER STUFF: Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which basically runs the NBA's broadcast operations in Canada, has managed to find homes for all playoff games this week. But you'll need a pretty comprehensive cable/satellite package to see them all. Raptors NBA TV has nine games, with TSN2 airing eight this week. The Score has another six while TSN managed to find room for three. ...  If you don't have the NFL Network and really want to watch the NFL draft Thursday night, you're going to have to do some work. TSN2 will show the first hour at 7:30, before going to the Chicago-Nashville playoff game. Now here's where it gets really complicated. When the 7 p.m. NHL game between the Flyers and Devils ends (let's say around 10 p.m.), the Chicago-Nashville game will migrate to TSN and TSN2 will pick up what's left of the draft. TSN3, anyone? If you do have the NFL Network, it will have every excruciating moment. By the way, the next day's picks will be carried live on TSN2. ... When the Rogers Sportsnet has added a couple of ex-NHLers to its playoff editions of Hockeycentral. Recently fired Tampa Bay general manager Brian Lawton appears Tuesday (6 p.m.) while retired defenceman Marty McSorley will be on Wednesday's show. McSorley will also do other work during the Canucks-Kings series. ... If real sports news isn't enough for you, try out this ``report" on Saturday's mixed martial arts fiasco: http://etruesports.com/index.php?page=article&articleId=400 At least, I think it's not real.

Comments

[Rick Grace]

It ridiculous to me that a sport like curling which draws such big TV ratings gets such little respect from the Toronto based national media.

If you'd listen to these guys, you'd think we were a baseball/basketball/NFL/NCAA nation. Curling to them is nothing but a joke.
(Unless the Americans start taking an interest in it. Then watch them slobber all over it)
But curling outdraws all those sports.

I say its time we gets some Canadians in the Canadian media.

[Studmuffin69]

well said rick grace couldn't agree more

[Mike]

Source for where the media called us a NCAA nation and curling a joke? Seriously, do you actually have one?

But honestly Rick here's the reason I believe. Curling season lasts like a month to 6 weeks at top. You have the Scotties, Briar, Worlds and Olympics every 4 years. After that you have a few minor things like the Skins game but that's it. You also don't have teams in cities, just rinks that move around so no beat writers following Jennifer Jones or someone reporting every day. And I'm guessing the curling fan is older than normal sports fans and less likely to be a fan of other sports. There probably not clicking on TSN.ca or reading the sports sections religiously like other junkies are. Since they generally don't make up a large portion of the sports media's audience they don't get covered as much.

[Phillipe DeBaurrier]

Nice theory, Chris - but I think the ratings have much more to do with the fact that Montreal is playing against a teams with more offensive firepower than we've seen in decades - Ovechkin is a huge draw. Would this series be getting the ratings if it were Montreal-Boston?
On the flip side, if the Leafs were in and playing the Capitals, don't you think that would garner similar or higher ratings?