FanSided staff discusses their favorite NHL video games
In honor of the NHL’s new partnership with e-sports, FanSided’s staff discussed their favorite hockey video games
The NHL is trying to expand their fan base in creative ways. Last year, they let Justin Bieber participate in a celebrity hockey game during All-Star weekend. Recently, the league, much like Steve Buscemi in 30 Rock, have been trying to reach out to a younger generation with mixed results.
Their latest attempt at reaching out to young people might be a good one. They’ve recently formed a partnership with e-sports and there will be an official NHL 18 tournament sponsored by the league.
This could be a great thing for hockey. The NHL has been famously reluctant to change or market their players properly. Being willing to swan dive into e-sports is a sign that maybe the league is willing to try new things.
In honor of this partnership, the FanSided staff reminisced about their favorite hockey video games. Let’s take a look at some classics. Be sure to check out all of their author pages!
David Stevenson: Let me start by saying I haven’t played a hockey video game in about 10 years. They just don’t appeal to me. I’ve tried the new ones, but I’m just not interested. Too boring and not exciting enough.
Naturally, my favorite game is NHL Hitz 2003. It was basically NBA Jam meets NFL Blitz on ice. Gameplay was fast-paced, it allowed you to create hilarious uniforms, and it allowed you to defy physics by being on fire while on frozen water.
Bruin Belisle: My favorite hockey game is NHL 15 for one reason. Patrice Bergeron got the cover. I have played thousands of times on just about every NHL video game that has come out since I was old enough to hold a controller. I lose every single time.
It’s gotten so bad that I’ve become a video game goon. I play almost solely for big hits and fights, often yelling at my friends in the living room after I crush an opposing player in the game. All while getting destroyed on the score sheet, often by double digits. At this point, it’s the small victories that keep me going. Patrice on the cover of ’15 is the only reason I can pick a personal favorite.
Hunter Hodies: NHL 06. It was a lot of fun on PS2. Once came back from 4 goals down against someone. It was a lot more consistent than the games today. The game was just great. And had a lot of legends in it too.
Adam Strangis: I have a soft spot for NHL Hitz just because it was mindless fun. But Blades of Steel was my absolute favorite. It was a slice of 8-bit heaven, you didn’t have to worry about offsides and it was easy to play. Plenty of hours were spent on the original NES with that game.
Derek Grochowski: NHL 94 will always be my favorite. As a kid, there were few things better than watching 8-bit Pat Lafontaine and Alexander Mogilny flying around the ice. It really kicked off my love of hockey.
Jeremy Lambert: My favorite NHL video game is NHL 2K8, almost exclusively for the goalie mode. If you play the EA NHL series, you’ll know that goalies have been neglected since the beginning of the franchise. Playing as the goalie in EA NHL is about as fun as watching the Colorado Avalanche last season.
NHL 2K8 made it feel like you were the goalie with positioning and puck-stopping mini-game. And you weren’t burned every time the opponent would go behind the net. Nowadays, everyone wants to score goals and pull off cool dekes when playing hockey videos. There used to be a time when it was fun preventing them.
Griffin Youngs: The last good NHL game was NHL 14. All of the old gen games were terrific, but 14 was best for just how much was in the game. The sheer amount of content taken out of the game in the jump to next gen made the game borderline unplayable and a total joke.
To this day they’re still adding on features from the old games to the new NHL games and using them as selling points
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What’s your favorite hockey video game of all-time? Let us know in the comments!