Despite its best efforts, the National Hockey League is usually at the bottom of the “major professional sports” pyramid in the U.S.

But while the NHL is usually lost amidst the likes of the NBA, MLB spring training and college basketball’s March Madness buildup at this time of year, hockey was front and center on the American sports consciousness this past weekend.

The 2010 Olympic gold medal game between the United States and Canada ended in a 3–2 OT win for the host nation Canada.

According to an ESPN.com report, Sunday’s gold medal game, which was broadcast on NBC, “drew an average viewership of 27.6 million and a rating of 15.2, a jump of 45.5 percent from the same matchup at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games.”

Furthermore, the U.S. TV audience reached a crescendo between 2:30–3:00 p.m Pacific Standard Time when 34.8 million were tuned in.

In terms of hockey viewership, Sunday’s game was trumped only by the 1980 gold medal game, which featured Finland and the United States after the States had defeated the Soviets in the Miracle on Ice.

As a comparable, this year’s Super Bowl, between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts, was watched in 51.7 million households according to media information company Nielsen.

The numbers were even better in Canada, the land of hockey.

An average of 16.6 million Canadians watched the game; 26.5 million watched part of the game, and 22 million watched as Sidney Crosby scored in OT according to the Vancouver Sun—it was the most-watched show in the history of Canadian TV. The Canadian population, to put things in perspective, is about 34 million.

“It’s a fitting finish for Canadian fans and for the media too,” explained American forward Patrick Kane.

“It’s what you want to see, such a tight game and overtime.”

But while Canada winning on home soil and the United States’ Cinderella run were major storylines in the Olympic ice hockey tournament, they were by no means the only ones.

Favored to take gold by some pundits prior to the Olympics, the Russian Federation failed to live up to expectations despite having the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Semin, and goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

Russia took first place in Group B in the preliminary round unconvincingly, but more importantly it failed to reach the medal round after a 7–3 loss in the quarterfinals to Canada.

The Swiss team proved to be a scrappy bunch, pushing Canada to a shootout in a 3–2 loss and defeating Norway in OT 5–4 in the preliminaries. They then beat Belarus in shootout before narrowly succumbing to the United States 2–0 in the quarters.

Despite ultimately losing to Finland in the bronze medal game, Slovakia had a memorable Winter Olympics with an upset win over the Russians and a 6–0 shutout for goalie Jaroslav Halak in the prelims. The Slovaks pulled off another upset with a 4–3 win over Turin gold medalists Sweden before losing a 3–2 nail-biter to Canada in the semifinals.

Defending Olympic gold medalist Sweden started well, winning Group C, but have to be extremely disappointed after having failed to defend their title.

With all the intrigue and great hockey witnessed at Vancouver 2010, it’s a little surprising that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is mum on whether the league will send its players to Sochi in 2014.

“This costs us money, this disrupts our season and we’re here [only] because we think it helps our game,” Bettman told the New York Daily News.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to and it doesn’t mean we are going to go.”

According to a Monday poll taken during former ESPN employee Dan Patrick’s radio show, 39 percent of respondents thought that hockey benefited from the Olympics the most.

The NHL is desperate for hockey to gain more exposure in the United States and it did so with the Olympic hockey tournament.

Wouldn’t it only make sense to at least try to recapture the magic in four years time?

Additional reporting by Matthew Little in Vancouver.

Olympic Hockey Scores Big With Americans

Oklahoma City Feeling the Thunder

For Your Consideration: Henrik for Hart

Phoenix Coyotes Defying All the Odds

LeBron, Cavs Holding Up Well Without Shaq