Got confessions of EA NHL fiction?
by Dominik on Sep 8, 2010 11:19 AM EDT
in This, That & What-Not
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The signature hockey video game NHL 11 is out this week, as Mike Chen at From The Rink has detailed. [Check out MTBVibe's FanPost reviewing the game.] I actually haven't bought one of these since either NHL 04 or 05 (can't remember what I played during the lockout), but hearing about the game's evolution today still gets me thinking, "Maybe I'll pick that up again" -- which is like a recovered addict saying, "Maybe I'll fall off the wagon again." There was a time, boy, that game series ruled my thoughts. This post is a mini-confessional about those days, and an invitation for you to share how you played it then -- and now
From about 1993 through the turn of the millennium, I guided the New York islanders to the Stanley Cup finals countless times -- where they inevitably faced the Blues, once the EA Sports NHL 9x game allowed you to guide two teams in the same season.
Beyond that bit of orchestrated fantasy, though, I tried to stick to the "real world": I would sit guys when they had real-life long-term injuries. I'd roll four lines. I'd put Claude Lapointe on the PK, even though in the video game he was slow and ineffective in that role. Once the game allowed trades, I made every trade that happened in the NHL. I spent the first few minutes with each year's game updating all of the summer free agents and even the minor moves from the season-opening waiver draft. Which means, through gritted teeth, I made all the trades Maloney and Milbury made (well, the ones that the computer didn't find so asinine as to reject them), cursing the entire time, praying the data load didn't crash the memory on those early versions of the game.
Aside from my brilliant coaching prowess in spite of the mad GM controlling my roster, there was one other area where fiction reigned: Once the game introduced the create-a-player feature, I created the hell out of every Islanders rookie. If Kirill Petrov somehow joined the Islanders this year, I can only imagine what kind of Ovechkin-esque force I'd create him to be in the EA world. (I understand they have roster updates now, but I'm old school.) 'Cause my record of realism on that front isn't pretty.
A short list of sudden "all-stars" I created who somehow never lived up to that form in real life includes:
- Tommy Salo, who earned shutouts in about half the games his rookie year for me;
- Roberto Luongo, who easily did the same and had the highest-rated glove in the game;
- Eric Fichaud ... who also did the same (I know, shameless);
- Jorgen Jonsson, who became an instant 35-goal scorer for me because I gave him all the same skill ratings as his brother. He was a two-way dynamo ... you know, like the Frans in my head today.
- Brett Lindros, who destroyed everything in his path and piled up goals and fights because I ... gave him all the same skill ratings as his brother (This didn't last long though, as I sat him every time he was on the shelf in the real world).
It's funny, at first when they started putting the player's name as well as his number next to his icon on the ice, the players you created would look different because their name was in all caps. So every time Jorgen Jonsson got the puck, it would show JONSSON like a bright flashing reminder from the computer telling me, "Hey, cheater, we know this guy ain't as good as you say, but if you can feel at peace with yourself having Jorgen JONSSON score 40 goals, you go right ahead."
When Fiction Mirrored Reality
While my fondest memories are of the early days when Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas dominated that game, there was something special about 2001-02: While i was guiding the Islanders to my traditional dominant start to that season, the real-world Islanders were actually following suit. Normally I'd feel a tinge of "Oh come on" guilt about making Milbury's Isles start the year undefeated in 10, but in this case they really were, opening that year 9-0-1-1 and 11-1-1-1.
This brief moment of life-imitates-fantasy continued the next year: After liking Trent Hunter in the playoffs, I created him the following year to be a power forward force -- and wouldn't you know it? He scored 25 goals in real life, too.
Hunter was my last manufactured reality with that game though. After about 2002 I played this game less and less, though I still found time to "create" Radek Martinek into a Czech god. Coming out of the lockout I did still play (an old version) here and there, and I even created rookie blueliners Bruno Gervais and Chris Campoli, but I was far more realistic about their skills and far less dedicated to completing seasons.
* * *
That's my EA story. Since the game inevitably comes up in comments time and again -- mikb were just reminiscing about the Turgeon-Hogue combo in that game -- I figured this would be a chance for everyone to share theirs. Got any stories? Any crazy seasons? Any created players you turned into Gretzky-beating machines?
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The Isles have been so putrid in the game (correctly so) that I’ve been forced to create a highly realistic version of myself to fill in as the first line center and anchor the team’s playoff run with an MVP-caliber performance (at league minimum salary).
But whom do you pass the puck to?
(Or is it all solo end-to-end rushes…)
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
thats how i am in NHL 10
just constant end to end rushes, always the same thing. Swing through into the slot, wrister top shelf score
repeat about a dozen times a game
and of course my character is true to real life size. 6’9" 275 pounds XD
In Garth we trust!
I've also done this...
And truth be told, I was awesome. Led my team in scoring, fights, hits, etc. I instantly boosted the value of Pavel Bure, and I was the dirtiest player in the league!
by Keith Quinn on Sep 8, 2010 2:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Used to do this with my friends
We would make versions of ourselves and pretty much anybody else we could think who we used to hang out with. Then we would gut the Islanders and put ourselves on the team. The All-Star game was all us. (I was a defenseman, won the Norris, thank you very much.)
"That was a joke, son, don't you get it?" - Foghorn Leghorn
ROFL
Being the odd goalie I am, I did this too. But I had to give it up, because it grew very annoying to hear Jim Hughson repeatedly yelling, “Unbelievable save by….. MIKE!”
Which come to think of it, is EA’s new way of subtly reminding you that you’re a cheating cheater who cheats… if your last name isn’t A) reasonably common or B) already in the game somehow, you get the awkward pause, and then the first name – you can HEAR Hughson rolling his eyes at you.
82 days into my latest contract approval process
This year for be a pro I am now allowed to play for CHL team in the Memorial Cup
So I picked Portland and now I can play as a RW with Johansonn in the middle with Nino on my left. Also love the face offs so instead of just pushing the stick down there is real strategy in placing your stick and either moving ur body or lifting ur opponents stick
I dont play modern hockey games
Not because I dont like them (actually I do) but because theres too much to control and I get all mixed up. I just cant do it. So, I watch a good friend of mine play all the time. He plays people online and he is always- ALWAYS- the Islanders. He complains how they make Roloson go out of position all the time (WHATEVER) how the Isles players fall over in a strong wind, and how any little shit on the Hawks, Pens, Wings, Caps, or Leafs (the 5 teams at least 90% of the people play as) can merely bump into a player like Kyle or Bailey or JT and they are likely to crumple like a cheap suit. But, he STILL wins a lot more than he loses. And the kids playing for the other side get all bent that they are losing to the Islanders lol.
Let Us Go, Islanders! (Ever notice how strange that sounds without the contraction?)
That reminds me of my 2K8 game I’m working on. Weight and Guerin are two of my best players not named Satan (especially since for some reason the only way to score in 2K8 is one timers or just having Hunter take huge slapshots from everywhere) and since the first month of the season they seem to only be able to play 3 games at a time before getting hurt again. It doesn’t matter though, everytime they go down I get to bump Comeau and Bergenheim up to the top lines.
Trevor Gillies: Giving an all new meaning to "Mustache Ride"
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
That's part of my deal too
At least whenever I’ve played them — I haven’t had the time to devote to learn how to control 18 buttons, joy sticks and triggers. There’s got to be a “classic” setting though, right?
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
As of this year’s edition, the classic setting actually uses MORE buttons…you can really play with just the analog sticks and the right trigger on 360, although that leaves a few things out.
I think there’s a “simple” setting where you get four buttons with actions and movement on the left stick and that’s it – I’ll look when I get home from work.
The Turgeon Show
I remember the first year that you could make trades, I’d always team up Pierre with Sylvain. Another time I had an Islanders team with Mario – Claude – Jocelyn Lemieux.
In 1995 Super Nintendo came out with one of the all time worst hockey games, Stanley Cup hockey. I got so good at the game that I could score at will off the faceoff with Pierre. I think he averaged 2-4 goals a game, had like 200 goals, 80ish assists.
I still say you should give Eastside Hockey a try sometime. I still play the free one and the last commercial release they had, the one that infamously had my ECHL coach complaining that Dylan Reese wasn’t an ECHL level player.
Trevor Gillies: Giving an all new meaning to "Mustache Ride"
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
EHM07 for the WIN
I’m still playing… Since I am a HUGE nerd, I actually map out the prospects in the Entry Draft every year (you should see the tables, it’s pathetically awesome) and keep detailed records. The actual game sims take maybe a quarter of the total time; the rest is preparing for the draft and free agency, and making sure I haven’t blown up the salary cap too badly.
I play as the Panthers. It was too much fun being able to fire Mike Keenan for trading Luongo. I get to be the protege of Bowtie Bill Torrey, which is fairly cool (I always knew my playing skill wasn’t getting me to the show). I’m approaching the 2018 Olympic break right now, the middle of my twelfth season. Some fun facts from Mikb mirror-hockey universe:
- Florida kept (and afforded) Nathan Horton, Jay Bouwmeester, and Olli Jokinen, all of whom have won the Conn Smythe.
- When Olli retired at age 37, he was a legitimate Hall of Famer: better than a point per game for his career.
- I say “legit” because the game doesn’t really care – if you play long enough, they put you in the Hall unless you were relentlessly average. Pronger and Brodeur and Joker, for example, are sharing time with the likes of Maxim Afinogenov, Lubomir Visnovsky, and Mike York. (MIKE YORK??!?)
- Kovalchuk is still playing – only for the Rags.
- JT and Rob Schremp Hockey are dominant forces – sadly, JT for the Hurricanes (who stole the lottery that year) and RSH for the Capitals, where he, Ovechkin, and Eric Fehr are the league’s most ferocious scoring line.
- In general, young promising players already drafted are slightly overrated, but those about to be drafted are generally misses: Stamkos, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty,Victor Hedman, etc. were all late-round picks who made barely a dent.
- In general, the game hates the Islanders – KO, Frans, Streit, Joensuu, Bergenheim, and Comeau are all scrubs. Bailey’s not bad. There’s no de Haan, Hamonic, Nino, Reverend Nelson, etc. Also, at the end of the first simulated season, Cyber Charles Wang fired Garth and re-replaced him with Mike Milbury. (Snow is in Nashville now.) AND also, guys the Isles ditched are somehow awesome – including Jeff Tambellini and Robert Nilsson, which I regard as an intentional poke in the eye from some disgruntled fan on the development team.
- The game generates random draftees every year, and a few are recycled retired players – renamed but otherwise identical. One year I moved up to draft a kid named Ondra Cerny, a skinny, acrobatic goalie from Pardubice, CZE. So, yeah….that’s working out pretty good for me. Good enough, in fact, for me to move my incumbent starter, a fellow named Josh Harding, to the Devils.
- We’ve never missed the playoffs, have 5 cups and 3 President’s Trophies – and except for Cerny, have won no league regular-season awards: no MVPs, no Art Ross, no Selke, no Norris (Bowie gets jobbed every time), not even a Lady Byng (again, Bowie gets jobbed. Guy has 70 points, 10 PIM, +40, and isn’t even a finalist? Pffffff). We can’t even win the Masterson Trophy.
Even when we lose, I have so much fun with this. I am likely never to give it up, either, for as long as it’s compatible with the OS on my PC. It’s too much fun scouting a kid, drafting him, and watching with pride as he makes you look like the Oracle of Delphi.
82 days into my latest contract approval process
mikb, you are either the 2nd person to tell us Cyber Wang fired Snow and replaced him with Milbury, or your the same person and I forgot who told us that story.
I’m actually GM’ing my way up. I started with the Flint Generals and got a job with the Trenton Titans of the ECHL. Matty Mo is unfortunately in Russia and his team wouldn’t give him up no matter how much I offered. I mentioned Dylan Reese, the only other Islander I tried for was MacDonald, who Snow released, but I didn’t have enough cap space to get him onto the team with as much as he wanted.
Trevor Gillies: Giving an all new meaning to "Mustache Ride"
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
probably me
In a long-ago thread. It’s a bad sign if I’m already repeating myself in here! FWIW, Wang eventually re-fired Mad Mike… but he replaced him with Ted Nolan as GM/Head Coach. (REALLY.) It makes me more grateful every day for the real-life rebuild. Therapy – or so I justify it to my wife. :D
I admire the working your way up thing. I was too lazy and impatient! But I also run Rochester (as my brother, LOL – poor guy – but he is a real-life Buffalo Bills fan, and hey, that’s close to Rochester! Like that makes it all kosher).
Regarding the Czechs, Dom – just finished the World Juniors – they placed third. I have a d-prospect named Marek Ludvik who made that team. And besides my keeper and him, I have three other Czechs in the system – as well as four Finns, five Swedes, an Austrian, two Russians, and my recently-retired German backup goalie and a traded Kazakh winger. Only two Americans, though. I was kind of mocking myself with the “Don Cherry says you ruin cyber hockey” joke.
We are absolutely the Nerd Herd. Loving it.
82 days into my latest contract approval process
I wonder if we could get a league together running the Shareware EHM (since EHM 07 only lets you have 16 GMs)
I miss playing in sim leagues against people, I haven’t played in a league in a good 5-6 years.
Trevor Gillies: Giving an all new meaning to "Mustache Ride"
Contributor to Lighthouse Hockey not sure if I'm the Sniper or the Enforcer.
This is all such fantastic dorkiness
Alternate Reality’s bringing back Milbury is redeemed by the small glimmer of hope that Czechs still produce good hockey players in 2017.
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
NHL11.. 20 Years and Counting
My first game was NHL 94, at the age of 7, and I was understandably hooked. The Isles were awesome and Benoit Hogue was like the Road Runner. I used to pull the wrap-around the goal move and shoot opposite pipe which flabbergasted the goalie about 75% of the time.
My next was NHL 97, and then I have owned almost every NHL annual game since 2002. I put in two years of 2k, I think 2007 and 2008.. but the NHL 10 + 11 games have been so cool.
I’ve always been about the GM aspect, making trades, controlling the roster, trading for young guns and watching them grow up. I was never a fan of creating players who didn’t exist (like myself), thought I admittedly did that once… and it was pretty sweet.
I like to start each season off with the Islanders exact roster and try to make it through a full-season to see how I do. Obviously, since we haven’t had the best team of late, it was always a goal to just make the playoff the first season. After that, I pretended I was Garth The Sequel and made moves on my own. I love drafting players… and trading for draft picks.
For this reason alone, I think NHL 11 should be really cool. You can trade up to 6 years draft pick’s into the future, and they finally incorporated RFA’s into the offseason. The huge bonus of having the CHL leagues is going to be really cool. In the past, any guy you drafted you had to sign and carry on either your NHL or AHL squad, otherwise you’d lose your recent pick to FA. It should expand the “farm system” game in GM mode significantly and make it a lot more fun.
I used to pull the wrap-around the goal move and shoot opposite pipe which flabbergasted the goalie about 75% of the time.
I loved how far out the goalie would dive on those. When you were playing against someone, you could hear them scream as their goalie was about to sprawl beyond their control.
The new features sound awesome, I must admit. I’m just afraid what would happen to me if I dove back in.
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
Wraparound is alive and well! (In NHL 11)
At least against the AI goalies…they’re a little bit slow laterally when you’re behind the net.
JP Dumont
I created him right after the draft and he was racking up 2 goals a game and then he didn’t sign…There was no way I was trading the best player in the game to Chicago so it was a quick delete and time to overhype someone new.
The last one of these I played...
Last one published for Genesis, think it was either NHL ‘96 or NHL ’97 and I’ve always seen the period from the original in ‘92 through that point as the sort of “Golden Age” for the series. I have to agree with some of the other folks above about the controls being just too much now. Ironically, I’m a fiend for NCAA Football and Madden now BECAUSE OF the expanded controls. (Elimination of the speed burst button may put an end to that. If there’s no speed burst, my Navy squads just can’t rumble over BCS caliber schedules with my fine tuned Flex Bone scheme.)
Back then, I’d game it out to build the Whalers and Islanders to realistically good teams via trades…and one (no more, no less) Frankenstein Monster with either. For the Whale, it was always a killer wing (always named Blaine Stoughton) and for the Isles, it was always the same: A brick wall goalie. (Named Billy Smith, of course…)
Then I’d game the engine (too easy in the earlier versions) to build the teams through trades, like getting Turgeon back on the Isles when that became necessary or Ronnie Franchise back on the Whale (the latter being the first trade I ever gamed out when the trade function became available) and supplement with smaller moves.
Let me tell ya: Turgeon up the middle with Thomas and Ziggy on the wings was a monster line. They were putting up Dynasty Era Trots and Bossy numbers and the whole team was logging +/- numbers that would have made the Dynasty Oilers jealous.
Of course, the trickey part always came in the Eastern Conference Finals between the Whalers and Isles. Using the same basic formulas of team construction for both teams generally made them a fairly even match and being that Stoughton and Smith were both maxed, they tended to off-set each other. Billy could be gobbling up every shot put on net, but Blaine could always seem to slip one or two through.
Good times. Almost makes me want to grab a Genesis and all of those games off Ebay, if I can find them, just to play them again.
I have NHL 09 for the PS3. My Islander team crushes the opposition relentlessly.
God forbid a big name free agent becomes available. My first line is Camaleri, Semen and Grabowski. (i know I can’t spell) I turned off the cap, so I have no clue what my team costs. It’s not as bad as the 80 million dollar NY Rangers, but its not far behind.
I know some people don’t like Park, but I’ve kept him on the fourth line mostly to kill penalties. I take every player that comes on waivers and either I use him or trade him for someone I would use.
Some players with a couple of years in the NHL still linger in my AHL Bridgeport team. (Frans). Okposo just made it out of Bridgeport last season.
I have traded and traded for Bergenheim. In NHL 09, he is rated an 80. Latrendresse is available for a trade. I tried it and man does he stink.
The computer teams are smarter and make deals to improve themselves. I might buy NHL 11. Maybe.
Get out of the sticks, Charles, move to Queens!! Come, Get some respect a Professional team deserves!!
I didn’t really evolve into the video game playing kid, in fact the last hockey game I played religiously was Blades of Steel, but back in ‘04-05 I was living in London and I played that game like it was crack and I just got out of the joint after 15 years. Let me tell you that getting yashin up to his best in that game was like an irresistable force, because they hadn’t yet figured how to program ‘baggage’ into the AI. He was out for a stretch with a wrist, but hauled a memorable 5 goals in game 6 to claim the hardware for the good guys.
Claude LaPointe didn't make as good a pun, sadly.
by LaChance at Glory on Sep 8, 2010 11:20 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
I have two words and a number for you
Mattias Weinhandl 99
From the Penalty Box to the Blog Box! Check it out at Isles Official's Outlook!
Very good
Very frightening.
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
Anyone who was a remotely hyped prospect instantly was EA NHL gold. Berard, the above mentioned Weinhandl, I remember Mike Watt being a force, Taylor Pyatt, Tim Connoly, Mezei, Kudroc were all beasts. Of cource Fichaud was unbeatable.
One year, I think it was 96 or 97, they tried to give each player an elevated skill, but took away all of their other talents. I remember Kasparaitis would kill any skater in sight but when he shot the puck he looked like five year old that cant get the disc off the ice.
Wow, Watt
Weird, for some reason I don’t remember playing with Berard, though I must’ve and you’d think I’d remember it well. Maybe I was chasing too much tail that year (with no success, I assure you). Or maybe so much has happened with real-life Berard since then that my memory’s been overwritten.
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
I remember those days
I had NHL 04 before moving to EHM 07. A corrupted game file put an end to my fun (and I had drafted some great players, it was so depressing I uninstalled and didn’t play again afterward). I remember how great Petteri Nokelainen was in that game… and also, for some reason, Ray Emery and Jason Bacashihua, both of whom I traded for. (RDP hadn’t signed his monster deal, and I got a high pick and decent shutdown D for him).
82 days into my latest contract approval process
and I had drafted some great players, it was so depressing I uninstalled and didn’t play again afterward)
Ack! This ruined so many seasons. Actually, an event like this may have been what stopped my regular play, I’m not sure. An entire history built over multiple seasons down the drain — the jarring recognition of how much you’re invested in the loss of something you’ve spent so much time on combined with the realization of how much time was spent … well, I’m not sure I needed that mirror.
Lighthouse Hockey: Trying to reconstitute the Hogue-Turgeon-Thomas line from NHL 94.
Nothing beats NHL 93...
ah the memories, and before the control and graphics got to complex. Thomas-Turgeon-Houge kicked some major ass, although I have to admit when I was playing competitively (I was away at college) Vancouver was my go to team Linden-Ronning-Bure no one could keep up.
by Judgegavel on Sep 12, 2010 9:23 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
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