Last Night, John Buccigross got on twitter and laid out these tidbits:

• ESPN Sports Poll tracks fan base sizes & fan base demo trends for all major sports through monthly telephone survey of 1500 Americans 12+
• Consumer insights from ESPN Sports Poll: What You Need to Know About the NHL Lockout....
• NHL growth: In general, NHL interest has remained flat for those under the age of 35 since the lockout...
• .... However, over the past three seasons, NHL interest has surged for those over the age of 35.
• What about a prolonged lockout? In 04-05, interest in the NHL declined when the entire season was canceled (dropped by -18%)...
• ...Avid hockey fans came back immediately during the next season (avid fan base was 7% before and after the NHL lockout)..
• ..General NHL fans returned after just a couple of seasons. NHL fan base reached pre-lockout level of 34% during the 2007-2008 season
• During the 2011-12 season, the number of Americans who are NHL fans (39%) and avid NHL fans (9%) reached near all-time highs....
• .......– with the fan base especially reaching heights that have not been seen since the 1996-1997 season.

Interesting stuff. From ESPN, of all multinational media conglomerates.