I’m old enough to remember George Armstrong firing the final goal ever scored during the so-called “Original Six” NHL era.
It was into an empty net, and it clinched a 3-1 victory for the Toronto Maple Leafs over the Montreal Canadiens. The year was 1967 and Toronto won their fourth Stanley Cup of that decade.
My dad, who saw the Leafs win 11 Cups in his lifetime, turned from our black and white TV and said, “Get used to that.”
I was nine years old, and the Leafs have not won since. But I’ll always remember Leaf captain George “The Chief” Armstrong — who passed away this week at 90 years of age — scoring that goal and raising that Cup.
Which brings us to the English Canadian TV ratings Totals for the week of January 11 to January 17, 2021. According to Numeris, the No. 1 TV show in all of Canada was the Leafs’ COVID-delayed season premiere that Wednesday against the Canadiens. The game drew over 2.1 million viewers on Sportsnet National.
Add in viewers in Quebec watching the same game on TVA and the national total is closer to three million NHL viewers. TVA’s ratings of two Montreal Canadiens games that same week on Le Hockey des Canadiens drew an average of 768,000 viewers. The two game total placed 25th on the provincial ratings chart. The most-watched show of the week in Quebec was District 31 on SRC, averaging 1,853,000 viewers Monday through Thursday.
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Sports in general ruled the week of Jan. 11 – 17 with two weekend NFL playoff games on CTV joining the Leafs debut in the English Canada Top 10. There were seven sports entries in all in the Top-30.
There is an asterisk, however. Sportsnet scored a weird Numeris two-for-one. The data company broke out the Sportsnet Ontario tally from that same Leafs opener and ranked it 14th over-all as a stand alone total, with 1,194,000 catching that same game among viewers in the team’s home province. A later NHL Canadian division opener the same night drew 994,000, which brought Sportsnet National another 994,000 viewers and a 21st place ranking. Here’s the English Canada Top-10 for the week:
- NHL Hockey — Leafs (Sportsnet) Wed 2,132,000
- The Good Doctor (CTV) Mon 2,001,000
- The Rookie (CTV) SUN 1,922,000
- CTV Evening News (CTV) MTWTF 1,770,000
- NFL Playoffs (CTV+) Sat/Sun 1,564,000
- This is Us (CTV) Tues 1,555,000
- NFL Playoffs (CTV+) Sat/Sun 1,500,000
- Magnum P.I. (CTV) Fri 1,356,000
- Prodigal Son (Global) Tues 1,305,000
- Call Me Kat (CTV) Thurs 1,292,000
TSN landed at 26 with their Friday night Leafs telecast, which drew 956,000 fans. Sportnet National scored 936,000 and 29th spot with their Saturday broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada.
Tops in Canadian scripted originals for the week were CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries (No. 25 with 965,000 total viewers) and Global’s Private Eyes (No. 28; 937,000).
The answer is 986,000. The question: How many viewers did Ken Jennings average in his first week as interim host of the syndicated quiz show Jeopardy? Good enough for 24th place in English Canada.
In its third outing the new import comedy Call Me Kat clung to 10th spot with 1,292,000 viewers.
