The NHL's Winter Classic is a Grand Success!

by Jes

It's nice to see the NHL get some good news for a change, and the NHL's Winter Classic provided some much needed positive buzz with the American audience. For once, it wasn't some random incident of violence that got the screeching ravens off of their usual beer coolers and ranting about how Hockey is simply a bloodbath played by toothless goons.

No, the Winter Classic was treated with respect by NBC, and now the ratings are in ...

The NHL Winter Classic, broadcast New Year's Day on NBC, earned a 2.6 overnight rating and a 5 share (1-4:45 p.m. ET), the best overnight NHL regular season rating in more than a decade (Feb. 3, 1996 on Fox, six-game regional, 3.0/7). The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 in the first U.S. outdoor game in NHL history. Twenty-year-old Sidney Crosby, the NHL's reigning MVP, scored the game-winning goal in a shootout.

The overnight rating also surpasses Wayne Gretzky's last game, which was broadcast on Fox (April 18, 1999, 2.5/6).

Top Ten Metered Markets:
1. Buffalo 38.2/58
2. Pittsburgh 17.7/30
3. Minneapolis 5.1/11
4. Denver 3.7/7
T5. Providence 3.5/7
T5. Las Vegas 3.5/6
7. St. Louis 3.3/5
8. Boston 3.2/6
9. Sacramento 2.9/6
T10. Richmond 2.8/5
T10. Hartford 2.8/5

Even up against college football games, the NHL still did well. As they say in Kazakhstan, "Niiice!"

Also, I order you to go and check out the photo gallery I cobbled together over at The NHL FanHouse, or you will be execute!

Jodie over at The Sidney Crosby Show will have her thoughts over the next 24-48 hours.