Yeah, but it's so hard to read into the ratings. 1) It's on New Years, so pretty much the whole country has off of work. That means there are so many more people that CAN watch. 2) There are so few games on any mainstream channel to say that ratings wouldn't have been the same if they were playing inside. 3) How can you say anyone that watched wasn't a hockey fan already....or if they weren't, became one after? The ratings can't tell you any of that.
Just because a game was the highest rated hockey game in a decade doesn't mean it was even that highly rated. The ratings could have been horrible, but were just good enough to be the best in the last ten years.
I think getting a channel like ESPN or the likes of an ABC, CBS, Fox or NBC to show games on a regular basis will help more than a once a year gimmick. One game isn't going to fix the problem. NBC already shows a few, but not enough to get a consistent audience or enough to grow the game.