It won\u2019t matter that the gold medal Olympic ice hockey game took place in the early morning hours in North America.<\/p>\n
The United States\u2019 thrilling overtime win against Canada, which won the stars and stripes its first gold medal in men\u2019s hockey since the 1980 Miracle on Ice over the Soviet Union, will surely earn a massive viewership number for NBC. It\u2019ll be remembered for a scrappy, perhaps sometimes lucky effort on the part of Team USA. But more than anything, it\u2019s the reintroduction of NHL players to Olympic competition that put this tournament over the top.<\/p>\n
For the first time since the Sochi Olympics in 2014, the NHL allowed its players to compete in the biggest international sporting event on the calendar. It didn\u2019t come without risk. The Pittsburgh Penguins might be without superstar Sidney Crosby for an extended period as a result. The Canadian captain missed the semifinal and final for his squad after suffering a lower-body injury versus Finland in the quarterfinal.<\/p>\n
Twice in the past two years, however, best-on-best international hockey competition has proven to be a massive viewership draw. It started with last year\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off. After a run of strong audiences throughout the preliminary and semifinal rounds<\/a>, a USA-Canada final earned nearly 10 million viewers<\/a> for what amounted to a meaningless exhibition tournament on paper. That game was the most-watched non-Olympic hockey game in the modern era, beating out every single Stanley Cup Final game on record.<\/p>\n Fast-forward one year, and the USA and Canada are back at it, only this time in the Olympics. The 8:10 a.m. ET start certainly won\u2019t help matters, but it probably won\u2019t hurt viewership<\/a> as much as some might think, especially with the extra period sending the game into the late morning on the East Coast.<\/p>\n Time and again, Americans have proven they\u2019re excited to watch hockey under two conditions. First, there has to be an international element to the competition. And second, there needs to be NHL players involved.<\/p>\n