Pixels on Ice

Growing up as a 90s kid in the Great White North my two favorite things where video games and ice hockey. Every weekend during the fall and winter was spent at the community rink (after a trip through the Tim Horton's drive through of coarse). Every night after school road hockey with the neighborhood kids. Hockey Night in Canada was like Saturday night mass. Flipping between English CBC to watch my Maple Leafs and French CBC for my Dad's beloved Canadiens. And if all that hockey wasn't enough I had my hockey in digital form from the good folks at Electronic Arts.

Electronic Arts has released an ice hockey game every year since 1991 with its original and very simply titled "NHL hockey" . The series introduced a licensed NHL video game for hockey fans who wanted to do more than watch their favourite team, but play as them too. There was a tiny blip in 1992 where EA did not get NHL licensing approval. So with the player's union's blessing they released NHLPA 93. The teams only showed city name and team colours. The actual team names and logos where absent from the title; however, you had the actual player roster for the 24 NHL teams that season. In 1993, they got back on track with both rights and released what some would argue the greatest sports video game ever NHL 94. NHL 95 introduced a saveable season mode, and NHL 97 started the trend of having an individual cover athlete with John Vanbiesbrouck. NHL 97 on the PC was the first to have actual play by play commentary by legendary Jim Hughson. As the years went on the game's added more features, modes, and leagues such as the AHL, ECHL, CHL, and European leagues. Some games made big leaps in innovation (analog stick control, Be a Pro) where others where carbon copies of the year prior.

Most of my hockey experience as a kid was spent on the PC; however, two games on the console stand out in my childhood: NHL95 and NHL 97. I bet you where expecting me to say the legendary NHL94. I didn't actually play 94 until I was an adult so my affection and memories are more attached to its successors. My neighbour and best buddy growing up had a Super Nintendo with NHL95. We used to spend hours in his basement playing NHL 95. At home I had a genesis with NHL97. I remember trading Gretzky and Lemieux to the Leafs and dominated (I was a genius GM apparently). I spent the rest of the decade playing NHL on the PC. Something that bothers me to this day was out of date rosters. Maybe I suffer from some undiagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder, but if the roster did not match the real season it made my brain itch. If I was watching TSN in the morning and heard about a trade I would go to my NHL and make that change in the game. I probably dumped thousands of hours into NHL2000. I needed to get it because the Atlanta Transfers where included as the new expansion team (again obsessive compulsive). I took a break from gaming for a bit in my teens playing NHL occasionally if at a friend's house. I came back to buying NHL games with 2007's NHL08 for the PS2 and then the big leap to NHL09 on the PS3. Eventually, the game's just felt like the same game just repackaged each year so I stopped buying them annually. I got into HUT a little bit in NHL21. I liked the idea of creating a fantasy team from card packs. I just don't like the idea of putting more money into an already $90 game. I currently own NHL 22 which has a great custom roster sharing feature. I just updated the roster to post trade deadline 2023 with someone's custom roster (there's that compulsion again).

What really saddens me about the franchise is the death of the NHL series on Windows. EA has not released a NHL game on the PC since NHL09. Based on my online searches it sounds like the reason is a combination of a small fanbase and modding on PC. Now don't get me wrong FIFA has tons of mods and modding tools out there, but they have way more people buying FIFA than Chel. So the beloved hockey game is kept to just PlayStation and Xbox. It would be nice to have a Nintendo port to play some Chel on the go, but no dice from EA. During the pandemic I discovered there is a small community of NHL on PC players who are keeping the game alive via mods. Updated rosters, logos, jerseys, arenas, menu interfaces. It's amazing to see the passion these guys have for the game and their work. There is the NHL 04 Rebuilt community that keep NHL04 current. They actually have some amazing retro mods. I have NHL 2004 with the NHL94 mod and it is amazing. The attention to the detail in the arenas is just unbelievable. The old Winnipeg Arena has the portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth hanging from the rafters like it did in real life. The other two communities at Wasserlasser and Splinterice focus more on NHL09 and have some great tools and add-ons. I spent the entire pandemic learning not only how to install these mods, but how to use the mod tools. Crazy enough I find it more fun modding the game and updating rosters than actually playing. I've taken what I have learned and using lots of the assets from these websites reverse engineered them for NHL 06. I host matches of Chel with my buddies on Parsec using 06 as the platform with updated teams, jerseys, and arenas. I got pretty hardcore about it dedicating an authentic NHL experience (outside some of the hardcorded things like touch icing and 4 player OT). I've turned what usually would be hundreds of dollars of consoles and multiple game copies to a super cheap entertaining time. All you need is a computer that turns on, a cheap USB controller, and a good internet connection. NHL on PC modding really kept me sane during the lockdowns.

I cannot end this post without mentioning the community over at NHL94.com. A forum keeping NHL94 alive and a place where fans can connect over their favourite game. They have online leagues and big in person tournaments. The best part (in my opinion) are the ROM hacks. Ever wanted to play NHL 94 with updated rosters? NCAA teams? KHL Teams? Well you need to get your but over to this website to see the talented work of this community.

I hope you enjoyed my post on the greatest game on digital ice. Would love to hear your experiences with EA's NHL. Leave me a comment on the site or twitter.

Play safe out there gamers.

"EA Sports NHL" is the intellectual properties of Electronic Arts Inc.

This article is subject to Fair Use (US Law) and Fair Dealing (Canadian Law) as it is informational in purpose and is a critique of the product. All rights and credits go directly to the owners. No copyright infringement is intended.