Full Version: World Junior Championships 2009
The tournament is under way. NHL Network is carrying games in the USA. USA-Germany is on now, Canada-Czech Republic is on tonight.
A quick reminder that the 2011 event will be held in Buffalo.....yippee!!!! 
Spokane Chiefs Drayson Bowman gets 2 goals in Team USA win. 
Chiefs have 3 players total.
Chiefs have 3 players total.
QUOTE(blueraider @ Dec 26 2008, 05:44 PM) 
A quick reminder that the 2011 event will be held in Buffalo.....yippee!!!!
Great! We'll all be staying at your house during the tournament, right?
Smart move by USA hockey to choose Buffalo as the host city. They know they can count on tens of thousands from southern Ontario to sell-out every Canada game. The last time the USA hosted it they put it in Grand Forks and thousands drove down from Winnipeg to sell-out every Canada game that year.
Even a pre-tournament exhibition game this year in Hamilton drew almost 17,000 fans to Copps Coliseum earlier this week. Should Canada make the Gold Medal final - chances are the TV ratings in Canada for that game will top any NHL game all year - including the Stanley Cup finals.
Even a pre-tournament exhibition game this year in Hamilton drew almost 17,000 fans to Copps Coliseum earlier this week. Should Canada make the Gold Medal final - chances are the TV ratings in Canada for that game will top any NHL game all year - including the Stanley Cup finals.
The US takes on the Czechs in the late afternoon/evening game today. I hope if we can get a goal or two early, the sails will come off the Czechs much like it did when Canada played them the other day. In addition to the 3 Chiefs on the US team, our Chiefs #1 goalie Dustin Tokarski, is in goal for Canada..
Both the USA and Canada scored impressive victories in their first games. The two teams meet on New Year's Eve, if I recall correctly -- and there's a chance I don't recall correctly since I've had some alcohol to celebrate the Eagles' win earlier. Checked the NHL Network website. The game is on New Year's Eve at 7:30 ET.
Flyers' no. 1 draft pick James van Riemsdyk scored twice for team USA in the opener.
Checked the NHL Network website. The game is on New Year's Eve at 7:30 ET.Flyers' no. 1 draft pick James van Riemsdyk scored twice for team USA in the opener.
US/Canada today at 4:30pm, west time. Can't wait. Chiefs' Tokarski in net for Canada, and 3 Chiefs playing with the US. I don't see any loser really for me. Tokarski incidentally has been signed by Tampa Lightning.
Wow - what a game to end 2008 on. The TSN crew were referring to it as a 'classic' before the second period was even over! If today's Winter Classic is HALF as entertaining the NHL and NBC will be thrilled.
FYI - for those who did not watch the game 7 - 4 Canada - but really a 5 - 4 game as Canada potted two empty netters in the last minute. The USA surged to a 3 - 0 lead in the first 10 minutes or so - but then John Tavares took over - scoring two within 48 seconds and the record crow dof over 20,000 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa were going nuts and carried Canada on to the victory. The game had everything - INCREDIBLE saves, cheap shots, unbelievable end to end action. Just fantastic!
And whichever NHL team wins the draft lottery gets Tavares - the next 'Great One!' He has been nothing short of brilliant in this tournament. He does look good with a Maple Leaf on his chest too. Would be nice if it was a blue and white one next year!
Here's hoping the USA and Canada play again in this tourney!
FYI - for those who did not watch the game 7 - 4 Canada - but really a 5 - 4 game as Canada potted two empty netters in the last minute. The USA surged to a 3 - 0 lead in the first 10 minutes or so - but then John Tavares took over - scoring two within 48 seconds and the record crow dof over 20,000 at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa were going nuts and carried Canada on to the victory. The game had everything - INCREDIBLE saves, cheap shots, unbelievable end to end action. Just fantastic!
And whichever NHL team wins the draft lottery gets Tavares - the next 'Great One!' He has been nothing short of brilliant in this tournament. He does look good with a Maple Leaf on his chest too. Would be nice if it was a blue and white one next year!
Here's hoping the USA and Canada play again in this tourney!
As I watched the game I kept wondering if anyone was going to try and play competent defense. It was entertaining but at the same time the play seemed kind of shoddy at times. And I thought there was a lack of hitting. I don't know if that's related to it being an international competition and not the NHL.
The USA lost in their quarterfinal game to Slovakia. What a stunning turnaround after having that 3-0 first-period lead against Canada.
Hockey fans in this country are celebrating one of the most thrilling hockey games we've watched. The New Years Eve game against the States was wild - but last night was simply breathtaking! A Canada - Russia classic for the ages. Four times Canada took a one goal lead - only to see the gritty Russians battle back all four times to tie the game. Then apparent disaster for the Canadian Juniors when the Russians scored to take the lead with less than 2.5 minutes to go.
It looked worse with about 40 seconds left and the Canadian net empty - but an open Russian forward rushed a shot at the empty net from his own blue line and missed. The icing call resulted in a face-off in the Russian zone. But the Russians still seem poised to win as about 5 players battled for the puck in a scrum along the boards just inside the Russian zone as the clock ticked down - 12 -11 -10....
Then somehow Tavares sprung the puck free and in desperation flung a backhander towards the net. A Russian defenceman blocked it on his knees about 10 feet in front of the Russian goal - but fortunately Jordan Eberle managed to come up with the loose puck and miraculously found the back of the net with just 5 seconds to go to tie the game. The place went crazy as 20,000 plus blew the roof off Scotiabank Place. I yelled, my roommate watching in his room yelled, you could hear cheers from neighbours across the hall and below us. I suspect millions across the country all were doing the same.
Canada went on to win in a shootout after a 10 minute overtime solved nothing. Now it is Sweden in the Gold Medal game at 7PM ET Monday night. That game will be hard pressed to even come close to matching the excitement and drama of last nights thriller - another Canada - Russia classic won by Canada 6 - 5. That is the same score of two of the other most dramatic wins in Canadian hockey history too, as that was the final score after Paul Henderson's dramatic goal in Moscow during the final minute of 1972 Super series and was the final score of the 1987 clinching game of the Canada Cup when again in the last minute Canada's best Gretzky and Mario Lemieux teamed up for the winning goal at Copps Coliseum.
So I like about 4 or 5 million Canadians will be glued to my TV tomorrow night to see if the Canadian Juniors can come through again to win the Gold.
Go Canada Go!
It looked worse with about 40 seconds left and the Canadian net empty - but an open Russian forward rushed a shot at the empty net from his own blue line and missed. The icing call resulted in a face-off in the Russian zone. But the Russians still seem poised to win as about 5 players battled for the puck in a scrum along the boards just inside the Russian zone as the clock ticked down - 12 -11 -10....
Then somehow Tavares sprung the puck free and in desperation flung a backhander towards the net. A Russian defenceman blocked it on his knees about 10 feet in front of the Russian goal - but fortunately Jordan Eberle managed to come up with the loose puck and miraculously found the back of the net with just 5 seconds to go to tie the game. The place went crazy as 20,000 plus blew the roof off Scotiabank Place. I yelled, my roommate watching in his room yelled, you could hear cheers from neighbours across the hall and below us. I suspect millions across the country all were doing the same.
Canada went on to win in a shootout after a 10 minute overtime solved nothing. Now it is Sweden in the Gold Medal game at 7PM ET Monday night. That game will be hard pressed to even come close to matching the excitement and drama of last nights thriller - another Canada - Russia classic won by Canada 6 - 5. That is the same score of two of the other most dramatic wins in Canadian hockey history too, as that was the final score after Paul Henderson's dramatic goal in Moscow during the final minute of 1972 Super series and was the final score of the 1987 clinching game of the Canada Cup when again in the last minute Canada's best Gretzky and Mario Lemieux teamed up for the winning goal at Copps Coliseum.
So I like about 4 or 5 million Canadians will be glued to my TV tomorrow night to see if the Canadian Juniors can come through again to win the Gold.
Go Canada Go!
The shootout ending ruins it for me, personally. But I'm curious -- did more people up there watch Canada-Russia or Hockey Night In Canada? Usually the NHL Network in the USA carries HNIC on Saturdays but they showed the WJC game instead. (Of course, they were probably hoping the USA would be in that game. )
)
More people watched the Juniors semifinal than Hockey night in Canada.
from Toronto Star:
And TSN had a record audience. Canadian Press:
from Toronto Star:
QUOTE
Saturday's world junior hockey championship semifinal between Canada and Russia drew an average audience of 1,855,000 viewers – more than double what CBC attracted for its broadcast of the Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators NHL game.
That audience – 857,000 viewers – was the lowest for a 7 p.m. Saturday night Leafs game in more than nine years.
Adding insult to injury, TSN's broadcast of the Sweden-Slovakia semifinal Saturday afternoon attracted an average audience of 473,000 – 51,000 more than CBC's late NHL game between Dallas and Edmonton.
CBC's season average for its Leafs-heavy Saturday night schedule is 1.2 million.
That audience – 857,000 viewers – was the lowest for a 7 p.m. Saturday night Leafs game in more than nine years.
Adding insult to injury, TSN's broadcast of the Sweden-Slovakia semifinal Saturday afternoon attracted an average audience of 473,000 – 51,000 more than CBC's late NHL game between Dallas and Edmonton.
CBC's season average for its Leafs-heavy Saturday night schedule is 1.2 million.
And TSN had a record audience. Canadian Press:
QUOTE
The Canadians' 5-1 win over Sweden in Monday night's final made ratings history for the network as its most-watched broadcast of all time. The game attracted 3.7 million viewers, surpassing the previous high of 3.5 million who watched the gold-medal game at the 2003 world junior championships in Halifax.
The 2009 final was the most-watched program ever on a Canadian specialty channel and the most-watched program across all Canadian television this broadcast season.
Audience levels peaked at 4.7 million viewers at 9:58 p.m. ET as the Canadian players celebrated their fifth consecutive victory in the tournament.
RDS also had a record audience for the gold-medal game with 602,000 viewers, boosting the total of TSN and RDS viewership to a record 4.3 million.
The game was watched in whole or in part by 9.3 million Canadians, or close to 30 per cent of the country's population.
The 2009 world junior tournament in Ottawa has been the most successful tournament ever for TSN. The network averaged 1.7 million viewers over Canada's six games, surpassing the previous high of 1.6 million for the 2006 world juniors in Vancouver.
The 2009 final was the most-watched program ever on a Canadian specialty channel and the most-watched program across all Canadian television this broadcast season.
Audience levels peaked at 4.7 million viewers at 9:58 p.m. ET as the Canadian players celebrated their fifth consecutive victory in the tournament.
RDS also had a record audience for the gold-medal game with 602,000 viewers, boosting the total of TSN and RDS viewership to a record 4.3 million.
The game was watched in whole or in part by 9.3 million Canadians, or close to 30 per cent of the country's population.
The 2009 world junior tournament in Ottawa has been the most successful tournament ever for TSN. The network averaged 1.7 million viewers over Canada's six games, surpassing the previous high of 1.6 million for the 2006 world juniors in Vancouver.
WOW! 9.3 million Canadians - almost one third of the country - saw at least a part of the final game. That number is mindblowing when you consider this is the World JUNIOR (Under 20) Championships. That will be by far the most watched program of the year up here and likely at least twice the number that will watch any part of the Stanley Cup final game.
And remember this was only on TSN (and RDS in Quebec) - not available to anybody who does not have cable or satellite. That would be like 100 million Americans watching something on ESPN.
In fact the only bigger number I've ever heard for any event on Canadian televison is the Gold Medal game of the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics - which I believe was watched by something like 12.5 million Canadians between the CBC English and French language coverage.
And remember this was only on TSN (and RDS in Quebec) - not available to anybody who does not have cable or satellite. That would be like 100 million Americans watching something on ESPN.
In fact the only bigger number I've ever heard for any event on Canadian televison is the Gold Medal game of the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics - which I believe was watched by something like 12.5 million Canadians between the CBC English and French language coverage.
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