• by Wayne Friedman , May 23, 2008

Versus goes into this weekend's NHL Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins, having earned its best playoff ratings in years. More importantly, the numbers are comparable to when ESPN was airing the hockey programming package.

In the just-completed conference finals, Versus earned--through nine games--a Nielsen household rating of a 1.2 and 1.3 million viewers, the highest numbers since 2002, when ESPN had the package. Growth on Versus also helped the network see household ratings 71% higher versus the 2007 playoffs and a 77% improvement in total viewers.

Versus also lays claim to its best-rated hockey game ever--a 1.7 household rating and 2.3 million total viewers--featuring the Flyers/Penguins game two conference final on Sunday, May 11. The game was also the most-viewed since the 2002-2003 season.

Earlier-round NHL playoffs also did well. For 15 conference semifinals games, Versus took in a 0.6 household number--a 50% rise over the year before and a 51% gain in total viewers to 588,464. Ratings for the twenty-six conference quarterfinals were up 33% to a 0.4, with total viewers 24% higher to 349,792.

The network has already seen better numbers in the regular season. For 56 regular-season games, household ratings improved by 50% to a 0.3, and total viewers climbed by 28% to 272,417.

Versus has had the NHL package since the 2005-2006 season, following the NHL's work stoppage, which cancelled the 2004-2005 season.