The Penguins-Red Wings Game 7 was the most-watched NHL game in 36 years (Canadiens-Blackhawks, Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals), with 8 million average viewers, NBC reports. The 4.3 rating was the best in six years (Red Wings-Hurricanes Game 7).

(For what it’s worth, the season premiere of Jon & Kate Plus 8 on TLC drew 9.8 million viewers.)

The NHL rating news made me have to look at the rosters of the finalists in 1973, back when I was really becoming a hockey fan. Jacques Lemaire, Frank and Peter Mahovlich, Yvan Cournoyer and Ken Dryden for Montreal, Dennis Hull, Stan Mikita, Keith Magnuson and Tony Esposito for Chicago. What a different world. Back then, it was the French Canadian names that seemed foreign.