23.5 million Canadians watched the Olympics on Sunday

With the Canadian men's hockey team in action on Sunday, along with the ice dancing pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir also competing in their short program, the people of Canada turned on their televisions in droves.

According to the CBC, almost 23.5 million Canadians tuned in to the Winter Olympics on Day 9, more than any other day so far.

Despite the fact that Canada would have needed to be blown out by Finland for their qualification for the quarterfinals to be put into question, 12 million still tuned in live to watch the national team beat Finland 2-1 in overtime. Meanwhile, 4.7 million Canadians watched the ice dance short program live. 

Oddly enough, the peak moment of the broadcast didn't occur during the Canadian pair's performance, but rather when the American pair of Meryl Davis and Charlie White received their scores.

If the Canadian hockey team reaches the finals, the numbers will be astronomical. Four years ago in Vancouver, the gold medal game between the United States and Canada became the most-watched television broadcast ever in Canadian history, with an average audience of 16.6 million viewers. Nearly half of the Canadian population watched the entire game, while 80 percent of Canadians watched some part of it.

The way Canadian television ratings for sporting events are calculated has been altered since 2010. The more accurate numbers have almost always been higher than under the old system.