The NHL had to be pleased with the participants in the Stanley Cup Final as did NBC. With the Red Wings representing a big market and the Penguins featuring the game’s most recognizable star, not surprisingly ratings for the six-game series which Detroit prevailed in for their fourth Cup in 11 years were way up.

It was the most watched series since Detroit’s five-game Cup victory over Carolina six years prior. But even better, it scored very well overall which is a big step for a league which has been historically disrespected by many outsiders who don’t get how special the sport can be. That means you Tiger “Wuss” Woods. Kudos to NBC’s Mike Milbury for putting that fraud in his place.

 Here’s some more info courtesy of The NHL Today on how well the Cup Final did:

From NBC SPORTS, “Wednesday’s deciding Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on NBC drew an average of 6.8 million viewers making it the most-watched Game 6 since the NHL returned to network television in 1995 and the third most-watched Stanley Cup Final game overall in that same span. The 4.0 national rating and 7 share is a 111% increase over Game 6 in 2006 (Edmonton-Carolina, 1.9/4). NBC’s Stanley Cup average (3.2/6, 4 telecasts) earned the best rating and was the most-viewed series (5.4 million average viewers) since the 2002 Final (Carolina-Detroit, 3.6/7, 5.8 million viewers, 3 telecasts). NBC finished No. 1 for the night in all key adult-male demographics and No. 2 overall for the night. The 2.9 (Adults 18-49) is NBC’s highest Wednesday average in that demo since Jan. 23.”