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TSN's coverage of the gold-medal game at the world junior hockey championship featured strong commentary, good camerawork, but a questionable angle, and a rather quirky performance by Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper in a pre-game interview.

At times, Harper's answers to questions by host James Duthie were as fascinating as the play on the ice.

When Duthie asked Harper which was "bigger" — watching his son, Ben, score the winning goal in a kids' hockey tournament or Monday night's junior game — he said, "As Prime Minister, I'd have to say the game [Monday night]."

Harper did note that Ben's goal was a "thrill." Still, the guess here is that many and perhaps most fathers would have said: "Nothing beats watching my son play hockey."

Asked why he thought Canada succeeded at the junior tournament, Harper gave a plug to TSN's competition, the CBC's Hockey Night In Canada.

"Don Cherry says we have heart," he said.

Following Canada's come-from-behind thrillers against the United States and Russia, Monday night's game didn't deliver the same level of theatre.

It was intense, fast-paced and well played, and fine conclusion to a memorable tournament. But, despite penalty problems late in the second period, Canada was never seriously pressed.

Canada's triumphs over the past week have been have been more than enough to keep Canadians glued to the TV. TSN has been pulling in big audiences.

And, for the dedicated hockey fan, the work of the play-by-play team of Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire helped raise the telecast to a high level.

They gave us plenty of information on which NHL teams had drafted the players on the various teams. They appraised the players' development since being drafted and commented on which the teams drafted well.

For the dedicated fan, that sort of commentary and insight, from two broadcasters who have been covering international for years, made the telecasts that much better.

TSN largely ignored a report by Rogers Sportsnet earlier Monday that claimed Canadian star John Tavares had been traded by his OHL team, the Oshawa Generals. The Generals issued a release denying the story, but Miller correctly made note of the report, stating that a trade still could be made. There have been plenty of rumours.

The commentary from Miller and McGuire was fair Monday night and over the course of the tournament. They certainly showed enthusiasm for the Canadian team, but there was no cheerleading. And at times, McGuire criticized Canadian players.

Monday night, he rapped Stefan Della Rovere, who put in his team in jeopardy twice by taking bad penalties. After a call against Della Rovere in the second period, McGuire said, "He plays on the edge and right now he's over the edge."

One problem: TSN consistently gave us the shot from the end-zone camera during power plays, and it was used way too much.

The angle, looking out from behind the net, works for replays and would be effective with limited use in live coverage. But, the best view of play in the offensive zone still comes from the conventional play-by-play camera along the side.

The end-zone camera did not give us a good view of Canada's first goal Monday night, by P.K. Subban, on the power play. We had to wait for the second replay, from the play-by-play camera, to get the best look at the goal.

TSN doubles upon CBC

TSN drew 1.855 million viewers for the Canada-Russia thriller on Saturday night, more than doubling Hockey Night In Canada's 857,000 for the Ottawa Senators-Toronto Maple Leafs game. The world junior hockey championship semi-final game peeled off about 400,000 viewers from the Hockey Night telecast. As a rule, a prime-time Leafs game on Hockey Night will average about 1.28 million viewers.

The TSN telecast peaked at 2.668 million from 10 to 10:20 p.m. ET during overtime and the shootout. For its five telecasts of Canadian games, TSN is averaging 1.324 million viewers. The Saturday audience ranks as TSN's ninth largest.

CTV, in prime time on Saturday, drew 556,000 for the Indianapolis Colts-San Diego Chargers NFL wild-card game, down from 639,000 last year for Jacksonville Jaguars-Pittsburgh Steelers. CTV's three other wild-card audiences: 560,000 for Atlanta Falcons-Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, down from 687,000 in 2008 for Washington Redskins-Seattle Seahawks; 747,000 for Baltimore Ravens-Miami Dolphins on Sunday, up from 664,000 in 2008 for New York Giants-Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 877,000 for Philadelphia Eagles-Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, up from 845,000 for Tennessee Titans-Chargers in 2008.

• Matt Millen, the former NFL player, broadcaster and executive, will provide commentary for NBC's pre-game Super Bowl coverage. The former Detroit Lions president provided studio analysis for NBC's wild card pre-game show last Saturday.