SHAWINIGAN, QUE.

Considering the Memorial Cup has been around for 94 years and has touched Canadians from coast to coast at one time or another, it’s strange it usually ends up as an event of huge local, but minimal national interest.

Most of Canada’s population is within a couple hundred kilometres of a junior hockey club which starts the season with the goal or dream of winning the Memorial Cup. But unlike the Grey Cup or the Brier, while it’s a very big deal in towns where the teams are from, it’s never been must-watch TV for the rest of the nation.

Until now. Maybe.

Sportsnet has decided to try do for the MasterCard Memorial Cup what TSN did for the Tim Hortons Brier.

And it appears to be working.

A Sportsnet property since the network’s inception in 1999, until now the network has never really gone all-in with it, basically conceding that it is what it is in terms of regional versus national interest with occasional special years such as Sidney Crosby with Rimouski Oceanic and Taylor Hall’s back-to-back MVP years with the Windsor Spitfires.

But Sportsnet is all in here.

“It’s the full push,” said Rob Corte, VP production for the network.

They’ve brought host Rob Faulds, the panel featuring John Garrett, Nick Kypreos and Daren Millard. They have a cameraman on skates on the ice when there’s a stoppage in play. They led with a one-hour preview show and have surrounded live prime-time games every night with multi-platform coverage across digital, mobile and radio with live steaming of all games on sportsnet.ca.

“We brought the panel on site last year in Mississauga, but this year our coverage is way more focused. It’s the first year, from the start of the year through to the final, that we really pushed and elevated the CHL,” said Corte.

“This is the first time we had a special night, every Friday for a CHL game of the week from the start of the season through the playoffs. We decided it was really important to get the stories and the names out there to build momentum. If the viewer is familiar with the players and their stories, knows the draft picks of their NHL teams, we felt there would be a big payoff leading to the MasterCard Memorial Cup.

“We put a lot of resources behind it. We’ve made the wireless camera on the ice during between whistles a staple. The CHL is open to trying new ideas like listening in to the video goal judges and referees. We had a controversy in the first game where the viewers were able to experience something they wouldn’t normally experience,” he said of the botched communication between video judges and the referee which cost the Edmonton Oil Kings a goal.

“It left no guessing,” said Corte.

Executive producer Ed Hall, who moved into the role this year after being producer for the Memorial Cup the last five years, said it’s come a long way.

“It’s about a time and a half what we do for a regular-season NHL game.

“We’ve stepped it up a lot on the production side. This is about double of what we do for an NHL regular-season game. There’s a lot more planning, money, facilities, cameras, technicians ... a lot more involved in almost every way than meets the eye. And, of course, the budget has become considerable.

“Having the Hockey Central panel on sight is a big part of it. They bring a lot of recognition and personality. That alone has elevated the telecasts in a big way,” said Hall.

And they picked the right year.

The regular-season champions from the WHL, OHL and QMJHL all went through the playoffs to get to the Memorial Cup for the first time since 1979. Host Shawinigan Cataractes ranked in the CHL’s top five all year. And all four teams opened with 1-1 records for the first time in the 29-year history of the format.

“We have an NHL city with a big market, London which has a strong history in the Southern Ontario market, the defending champions from Saint John and a host city which was high in the CHL rankings all year.

“It’s like the Sidney Crosby year during the NHL lockout. London was in after a dream season breaking the CHL record for going undefeated. Brian Kilrea, the winningest junior coach in history was in with the Ottawa 67s and from the West we had the defending champions from Kelowna.”

So far Sportsnet is being rewarded.

The tournament opened with 253,800 for Edmonton versus Shawinigan and followed with 430,100 for Saint John versus London, the highest average audience for a Memorial Cup round-robin game other than the last NHL lockout year.

And they’ve stayed solid, averaging 272,600. Last year the round-robin average was 200,900.

For comparison purposes the average audience for NHL games on Sportsnet West was 196,000 for Edmonton Oilers games while the Calgary Flames averaged 188,000.

TSN went all in to make the Brier what it is today.

Putting up three games a day during the round robin and then wrestling the championship game away from CBC, the network took over all CCA properties from start to finish with rights now renegotiated through 2021.

With Brier round-robin games averaging 685,000 (and the Brier final double that or more) the numbers ranked up there with TSN’s NHL average of 707,000 and the CFL average of 637,000.

Now that the network has gone all in, Corte believes Sportsnet can make the Memorial Cup a Brier-like event.

“I think the potential is huge,” he said.

“The product is great. We believe once the fans see the quality of the broadcast, they’ll find out what an infectious event it is and want to watch it every year.”

The best part, says Hall, is that it has become the big finish for the hockey season for everybody involved.

“Our guys have really come to appreciate what the Memorial Cup is for it’s history, for the players, the junior teams across Canada and for the great event it is itself. It’s become a real passion for a lot of us.

“It’s Our Stanley Cup.”

Twitter.com/sunterryjones

terry.jones@sunmedia.ca

MEMORIAL CUP

BY THE (TV) NUMBERS

(SportsNet Average Audiences)

1999

Round Robin: 113,900

Final: Aired on CTV

2000

Round Robin: 32,800

Final: Aired on CTV

2001

Round Robin: 78,700

Final: Aired on CTV

2002

Round Robin: 49,300

Final: Aired on CTV.

2003

Round Robin: 51,500

Final: 185,000

2004

Round Robin: 90,100

Final: 238,000

2005*

Round Robin: 530,800

Final: 805,500

2006

Round Robin: 188,800

Final: 356,800

2007

Round Robin: 191,300

Final: 384,400

2008

Round Robin: 149,700

Final: 294,000

2009

Round Robin: 170,100

Final: 234,000

2010

Round Robin: 217,000

Final: 446,000

2011

Round Robin: 200,900

Final: 537,000

2012:

Round Robin: 272,600.**

Final: Sunday

* NHL Lockout Year

** Not including Wednesday night game.