CBC and RDS saw an uptick in audiences for their first regular season games as the National Hockey League kicked off its 2008/09 edition in North America last week.

The pubcaster’s Hockey Night in Canada, after having aired three afternoon games played in Europe the previous weekend, was first out of the gate on Thursday as the Toronto Maple Leafs squared off against the Detroit Red Wings to the tune of one million viewers, followed by the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks with 726,000 at 10:30 p.m. (All numbers 2+.)

The numbers are up from last year, when HNIC‘s first doubleheader averaged 846,000 viewers and 353,000 viewers, respectively.

The league added some live entertainment to spice up its opener, with a concert between the first and second games featuring Def Leppard in Detroit and Alanis Morissette in Montreal. The NHL Face-Off Rocks concert drew 518,000 viewers.

The following night, French sportscaster RDS aired the first game of the season for the Montreal Canadiens — celebrating its 100th season — which drew 774,000 viewers, as the Habs took on the Buffalo Sabres. That’s up from 634,000 in 2007, and more than the average 716,000 that tuned in during the regular season on RDS.

Numbers spiked for the Canadiens’ second game on Saturday against the Leafs, which garnered 847,000 for RDS, while CBC drew 1.3 million viewers for its telecast. The first Saturday doubleheader featured Vancouver and Calgary with 951,000 viewers at 10 p.m. ET for HNIC — a slight increase from last year’s first Saturday doubleheader.

Meanwhile, the Ceeb declared elementary school music teacher Colin Oberst the winner of its Hockey Anthem Challenge on Saturday, when his song Canadian Gold made its debut as the new official anthem of HNIC — beating out thousands of other hopefuls.

Oberst received a $100,000 cash prize and half of the ongoing performance royalties, while the other half is earmarked for Canadian minor league hockey.

TSN’s NHL season got underway on Tuesday, while Rogers Sportsnet begins its coverage on Friday.