Hockey blogger gets record traffic on first day of NHL season

VANCOUVER, CA — Describing it as “something like he’s never seen before,” John Madsen was ecstatic Thursday night while watching the amazing traffic to his hockey-focused blog on the first days of the NHL season.

“It’s been absolutely incredible,” Madsen said. “Totally amazing. On Tuesday I had 137 unique visitors, averaging 1.4 views per visit, for an amazing total of 192 pages viewed. I was in high heaven. And it didn’t even stop there. On Tuesday I put up this really interesting post about Sidney Crosby, and it got picked up by a couple of Penguins’ blogs, and next thing you know, we’re in uncharted territory. That’s right, baby, 200 unique visitors, and 277 page views. Unbelievable, right?”

Madsen’s site, TheGreatestGameOnIce.blogspot.com, is a self-described “Critical (and sometimes humorous) look into the exciting world of professional hockey. Madsen indicates that he makes money from advertising, mostly through Google Adsense, and that this week he’s made approximately $0.57.

“It’s not a career,” Madsen said. “Not yet anyway. I’m hopeful.”

As for the plans for this season, Madsen hopes to keep the momentum going from the beginning of the year, but he’s being realistic.

“I’m just going to enjoy yesterday for what it was,” Madsen said. “Best day ever. I wish every day was the first day of the NHL season.”

It’s going to be tough for this sport to sweep any nations, but it’s still pretty frickin’ cool!