Who said Nashville wasn't a hockey market?

According to Steve Lepore at Puck the Media, (who I highly reccomend following on twitter, @stevelepore) Nashville ranked third, only behind Buffalo and Boston, in ratings for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals among U.S. NHL markets. Nashville scored a 3.0/5, meaning 3% of all televisions in Nashville, and 5% of the televisions that were on during that time were tuned in and saw Alex Burrows beat the Bruins 11 seconds into overtime.

A couple of other interesting numbers: Knoxville scored a 1.7/3, tied for 13th among non-NHL markets in the U.S. and Memphis was listed at 1.4/3, good for 22nd.

It's one thing to draw ratings and attendance when the Predators are playing, but it's another to hold people's interest once the Preds are out, and that's exactly what's happened in these finals.

Lepore had tweeted earlier:

Mark it down: 2011 was the year Nashville became a legitimate hockey town. If you don't buy that by now, you're a moron.

It's certainly a sign of good things to come here in Smashville.