NHL looks for an Olympic carry-over

What goes up must come down. The NHL may be about to prove it.

Nearly 28 million people watched Sunday’s Olympic gold-medal hockey game between Canada and the U.S. on NBC. But how many of those viewers will watch this Sunday’s NBC regular-season NHL telecast between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks, teams that had several players in the gold-medal game?

Brian Burke, Team USA general manager was blunt with his answer.

“Yeah, I watch the Summer Olympics and the American track and field, but track and field bores me to death,” Burke said. “I watched curling, a sport I don’t understand or like, when the American team was on.

“There’s patriotism in the Olympics that no pro sport, not even the NFL, is ever going to capture. Yes, we had people watch hockey and probably turn it off after that [gold-medal] game and never watch it again. But I think far more watched it and said, ‘I have to give this thing a try if I haven’t already because it’s pretty exciting and fun to watch.’ ”

Well, maybe not so many.

In the three games the cable network Versus has aired since the Vancouver Olympics ended, ratings actually dropped.

The first game after the Olympics, Colorado and Detroit, drew an average of 400,000 viewers to Versus, a 41% increase from the season average of 278,000. But throw in Philadelphia at Tampa Bay and Washington at Buffalo and Versus is averaging 263,000, which seems to show that the Burke who watches curling only once every four years is the voice of the average Olympic hockey fan.

The downward trend happened after the 2006 Olympics too.

In 19 games after Sweden beat Finland to win the gold medal, average viewership on Versus dropped from 171,000 to 137,000 a game. On NBC, ratings fell from 1.52 million to 1.08 million pre-Olympics to post-Olympics.

In an effort to keep hockey buzz alive this post-Olympics, Versus added five extra games to its regular-season schedule.

Marc Fein, executive vice president of programming, production and business operations for Versus, said that one positive sign has been that visitors to the network’s NHL website have been spending 25% longer on the site.

“It started during the Olympics,” Fein said. “People are spending longer on the hockey pages and that indicates to us the casual fan is tuning in and trying to learn.”

Nielsen spokesman Aaron Lewis, however, cautioned that three games is not enough to spot a trend.

NBC is going all out Sunday with a special pregame piece on the Olympics and with its in-game “starcam” focused on either Patrick Kane (Team USA) or Jonathan Toews (Canada) for the Blackhawks and Red Wings’ Nicklas Lidstrom (Sweden) or Brian Rafalski (USA).

Fein also pointed out that Versus was in a different place in 2006 and less able to manage a post-Olympic bump.

“For us it was tricky, 2006 was our first year of hockey after coming out of being the Outdoor Life Network,” he said. “At the end of the day, the proof is going to be what happens on ice, which teams make the playoffs, if there are seven-game or four-game series.”

Rojas and Angels

It happened so fast. Last Friday, Angels owner Arte Moreno called MLB Network studio host Victor Rojas and five days later Rojas was the team’s new television play-by-play voice.

“When Arte wants something, he gets it done,” said Rojas, who had never spoken to Moreno before Friday.

Rojas, who will team with Mark Gubicza on television, said he is still surprised he got the job that belonged to Rory Markas, who died unexpectedly in January.

“I had heard rumblings that the Angels were looking for one person to fill in this year and go for a full-time search next season,” he said. “The next thing I heard was that Arte wanted to talk to me.”

Rojas said he didn’t even think to ask about the job when Markas died.

“You just don’t feel right picking up the phone and calling in that circumstance,” Rojas said.

He also said he had spoken Thursday to Rex Hudler, the popular Angels analyst whose contract wasn’t renewed for this year. “Rex called and congratulated me,” Rojas said. “And, honestly, I told him I had spoken to MLB even before this happened. Rex would be great on the MLB Network.”

Bird and Magic

If you get HBO, pay attention. If you don’t, try to find a friend who does and invite yourself over Saturday night. This isn’t a place where you’ll usually find reviews, but having seen an advance copy of HBO’s “Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals,” here’s a review.

It’s really good.

We know about Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, Lakers and Celtics. But there is comfort in hearing old stories and there is a chance to see Bird more relaxed and chatty than we’ve seen him before.

These two guys didn’t like each other much at first. Now they do. How that happened is still a good drama.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

twitter.com/mepucin