It was the USA vs Canada for a gold medal. That’s why it got a lot of viewers in places that aren’t in the norm for hockey demographics. You wont ever see those numbers for NHL games unless it’s the playoffs or Stanley Cup final. I think it’s awesome it got those kinds of ratings and would love if it helps hockey gain a better footing in America but it was 1 game and I think you’re comparing apples and oranges.
[quote=“BigThumb”]
Proportionally, it is probably the same. [/quote]
Even though there weren’t as many countries represented?
If “proportionality” is the important bit, then would a hockey championship in Prince Rupert be equivalent to the Stanley Cup, proportionate to the populations, for example?
BTW, I think I’m changing my vote for Crosby’s goal. I didn’t see Henderson’s (well, not live, anyway). And the Gretzky-Lemieux one was too long ago for me to remember accurately.
I don’t think the number of countries matters in this case. Any country with winter sport athletes that could qualify was probably represented there. Kenya and Jamaica had athletes there. Even Ghana and Morocco had one slalom skier each. ( By the way, the moroccan skier did better than his african competitor so this makes him the African slalom champion 
) The Maldives not sending anyone doesn’t diminish the prestige of the event because they probably didn’t have any winter sport athletes.
The event is the biggest winter sport competition in the world. Our athletes posting a great performance like they did is, in my opinion, on par with the best performances from any top teams at any summer olympics.
I still consider the Henderson goal much bigger even though it was so long ago. The Yanks tied it up and Crosby got it off but all in all it was one hell of a good game to witness.
Henderson’s will always be THE goal.
It was our best vs their best, we were shocked as hell they were that good, and it was political back then.
Gretzky and Lemieux, what can you say? Let’s hope we see two Canucks that good on the ice ever again.
This was OUR show this time, we had to win. The HTMF prayer was answered, with a little ‘fear of God’ tossed in as a lesson 
I think one of the reasons for soccer being such a popular sport is that it is very economical. One doesn’t need expensive gear, runners and shorts and a tee shirt will do for a recreational player. Ice hockey requires a much larger equipment investment, plus finding some ice - even for a rec. player. Furthermore, most humans can relate to kicking a ball, most have done it as a child - hitting a puck with a stick while skating is much less intuitive.
Alittle off topic but this link from the New York Times shows, in a clever way, the difference in time between athletes during races.
It was a great game and congratulations to the Canadian team for a hard fought gold medal.