Canada Day 2020

Canada Day 2020 from the Twitch.tv broadcast

Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic Breast Cancer Awareness All-Star Game 2019

Game of the Week - New York Rangers vs Washington Capitals (9/11 Anniversary Game)

It's once again on that somber memorial of all the people lost on 9-11 that I decide to continue simulating the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals NHL video game. I'll switch off on which team I use to control in the player 1 category and hope for the best. I've tried to get as many great goals in with some exciting highlights as best I can. It's a supplement to the "Game of the Week" feature on Twitch.tv which can be later seen by the Youtube channel community.
You can watch the broadcast here on the uploaded Youtube channel here.

Game of the Week - Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers 9/11 Memorial Game

It's been 15 years since that horrible day in September when the modern world saw the horror of an unprovoked attack changing all our lives forever. 9/11 is a day of continued mourning, but as the years go by, we are strengthening our national resolve to forge ahead to higher peaks of human fortitude.

Once again, the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic continues it's tradition of playing out a simulated game between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals.

Last year, I chose the New York Rangers, so to mix it up, I chose to control the Capitals. Will I finally break the losing streak against the CPU and win in my last game broadcasting with EA Sports NHL 16?

Thank you to all those who serve in the military, police, firefighters, and first responders. Without your courage, we have no examples of human bravery.

RIP
Mark Bavis and Garnet "Ace" Bailey

Game of the Week - HC Vítkovice Steel vs HC Kometa Brno

Well, since I was hoping to get this series some traction, I tried a little more diversity in the team selection. I noticed that I haven't used any of the teams in the Euro leagues, so here goes two of the random teams in the Czech Extraliga.

I chose HC Vítkovice Steel vs HC Kometa Brno as I was also looking forward to the upcoming Slovak Day in Kennywood. Will my choice in team succeed or fail? Did I handicap myself with another low ranked team against a good team that I'm unaware of? Or did the CPU just kick my ass again?

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Pittsburgh Penguins

Happy Halloween!

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Montreal Canadians vs Nashville Predators

With thanks to the fans who voted on the poll this week, the Montreal Canadians are featured as the team I'll use in this week's "Game of the Week" Season 2. Do I have what it takes to get it back on track after an embarrassing loss to the CPU team last week?Of course, since it's October, I'm continuing to support the whole month long rally of Hockey Fights Cancer. Please give them support with money and wear pink this month.

Next week, as teased by my previous video, I will be playing the video game rematch of the Penguins vs Maple Leafs, with this time having it hosted at the ACC! Look for it next week!

Game of the Week (Season 2) - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Pittsburgh Penguins

This week's game is inspired by all the hype from this upcoming game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs. It's Phil Kessel's first game against his old Toronto friends. In this episode, I am trying to focus on telling you just how many memories I've gathered from attending Pens games vs Maple Leafs at both Pittsburgh Arenas.

I've also kept up on the October "Breast Cancer Awareness" and "Hockey Fights Cancer" theme. Please consider donating anything you can towards finding a cure or for more medical research.

I am currently 1-0 in this season vs. the CPU.

So, no matter what I've done here during this video game in the series. I'll probably do a rematch over Halloween between these two teams. Yea, I've used the Penguins more times than any other team in the game, but I've been trying to stay current.

Do you have an idea to feature two teams in the next "Game of the Week" series? Then go ahead and leave a comment in the box below or wherever appropriate.

NHL 16 by EA Sports Midnight Release Party - LIVE!!!

After a midnight release of the much awaited NHL 16 by EA Sports, it is my duty as a fan of the franchise and as a pioneer hockey blogger to feature the new game here on my blog so that all over the world can get live broadcasts of the Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic review and for the first time on live streaming!

Of course, I've been a Playstation fan since the first version and continue to be amazed by the upgrade in graphics and design. I'm sure there will be some more things to criticize in the game, but I just have to praise the EA team for making a really great looking game so real to the real life counterparts.

The NHL 16 live-stream party starts approximately 12:30 AM once I get my hands on the copy and uploaded to the system. We all know just how long it usually takes to get everything into the complex PS4 system. I hope they take this into account and make it one of the smoothest transitions possible!Thank you to everyone who could watch and attend the live event. Of course this will be uploaded in it's entirety to Youtube.com for those who didn't want to be up that late.

Game of the Week - Pittsburgh vs Vancouver

In this episode, I decided that I wanted to feature my hometown team Pittsburgh Penguins. They've made some serious waves in the free agent signing period and off-season. They've "given up" on Sutter, while hoping that they can build a more defensive team that is strong on all 4 lines. I haven't heard what Vancouver has thought of the trade yet.

So, here is the game where all sets of players are on their new teams. What exactly would they do in this simulation? This game will explore that. Would Sutter get that "revenge"?


If you have an idea for a great match-up.. then leave a comment or two in the forum below or use the various methods of social media.

NHL 15 Review: Taking The Step Back in Next Gen Tech

EA Sports NHL 15

Note: This review is based from the PS4 experience.

Now that I've had some significant time in to successfully experiencing everything that EA Sports NHL 15 produced and has to offer, I feel comfortable enough to give it a fair enough review. I didn't want to join in with the knee-jerk reaction and slam it the way most of the hockey fan gamers seem to have reacted. But the critical review this game needs is crucial to the sport, the video game itself, and a glaring indictment towards the direction the video game and next generation technology is headed.

I was able to download the free preview before the game came out and "spoil" my surprise of being a first-time user. I wanted to acclimate myself to the PS4 controls and look for other things to anticipate for the review you're reading now. The free preview download time took a while, but once it was done, I was pleased at the cosmetic changes as well as the higher resolution to detail the game developers provided. It only allowed me to choose the NY Ranger or LA Kings with the only options to having home or away jerseys.

So, now that the longer I played, the more and more broken heart'd I had become with NHL 15 where so much expectation and hype was replaced with disappointment and frustration.

EA Sports knows we hockey gamers are going to buy this game. $59.99 in their pocket is a sure thing with no motivation to pleasing all of the fans all of the time. In this case, I'm going to have to say that EA's first attempt at the next generation technology is going to have to get a mulligan and hope they have learned from their mistakes with this edition.

The Good

The improved PS4 technology with frame rates, response times, social media integration, suggests that you CAN indeed polish a turd. The introduction screen blasts people with the potential of higher definition and more fluid movements of the players. They succeed in putting a fine gloss on every single little detail of every single facet of the real-live game experience. I am certainly glad that EA Sports does want to produce a totally reproduction of an actual game. I believe that we've gotten it here in NHL 15. The next generation frame rates completely improved the motion capture of each player as well as sculpting their facial likenesses in the game. As a veteran franchise gamer back from the NHL 98 days, I appreciate the time and detail that goes into getting the look and accuracy that the hockey fans demand. I remember the flat faces, the cloned create-a-player, and the other early stages of the technology that now looks extremely outdated by comparison.

That's about it. There is really not much else good about this game. Mostly because of how much they put in to the game's polish, they discontinued or removed a lot of favorite aspects of earlier games I wished were still there. You'll read about them in....

... The BAD

Let's begin with what they felt they needed to take out of the game or what they had to discontinue. Gone is the Tournament mode play, the ladies Angie, Haley, and Cammi, the winter classic mode, the winter classic jerseys (WAS and CHI) don't have their most recent classic jerseys up despite them being already unveiled this summer, the hockey legends of Mario and Wayne et al, the

Everything is focused around the HUT or "Hockey Ultimate Team", so if you don't participate in HUT that for whatever reason, you are being phased out and demographics (and social media) ignored.

But if HUT and other online games are your thing, then continue paying again and again for Playstaion Plus access as the online settings only work as long as the user's subscription is up to date.

No matter how many rules you put in place for competitive play in games, there will always be an outnumbered faction of ass-holes that will exploit those rules to gain the advantage. I'm referring to the way that everyone on-line plays the game in HUT or random pairing online versus mode. What you will find are the constant poke-checkers who will perpetually tap the buttons to poke the puck away from you so many times it spoils the experience for you. If it's not a poke check, then it's the constant divers that will always get in your way and spoil the authenticity of any real life defensive strategy. I've complained about this for many many times on twitter, but I don't think they hear me.

The Ugly!

NBC has been worked into the game telecast production lending their branding to become even closer to a truly authentic game broadcast. Gone are the CAN-con content of  Jim Hughson's familiar voice and instead presents pre-game analysis from Doc Emrik and Ed Olczyk in pre-recorded videos. I think the change brings a real fresh presentation and allows for more fans to get used to the NBC branded broadcast as it's the exclusive American rights holder.

I think it's going to backfire on the bigger picture here and really cut into the Canadian sales market. They don't want to be subjected to the American branded broadcast and the American announcers no matter how familiar they are. I haven't seen the demographics as to how many are sold in each country, but I bet that the Burnaby, BC based developers have more of a loyal Canadian fan base to fleece.

In conclusion, the NHL 15 product is far below the expectations of it's loyal fan base and will have certainly destroyed a lot of good will that it had built up with the previous games. I hope that EA Sports will have read up on all the harsh (and tempered blogs like this one) criticism and fix things for NHL 16, because.. well.. they already know that they have our money again next year.

Two Iconic Female players will join NHL 13

When I've always claimed that Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic is a blog of unparalleled pioneering, I was not kidding. Since investing in the EA Sports series of video games, I have steered the games persuasively through my critiques published here. As the game is soon to arrive on the retail shelves, two new players were given the opportunity to break the news on twitter about being specially included in NHL 13.

Source: Twitter

EA Sports-Canada, can claim all they want that a little girl was their inspiration last year for finally adding the female gender option for the create a player in NHL 12. In staunchly written truth, it was THIS BLOG (as early as 2009) along with several other published critiques in other appropriate websites.

I continue to advocate for many more subtle changes to the game. I believe that EA Sports does listen to all their feedback while trying to produce the biggest and best game year after year. I believe that NHL 13 will be no different.

But as for the new Legends package as included in the NHL 13 game, I would have to say that it's a fresh new take on the game. They've begun to capture the imaginations of a whole new demographic of hockey fans.

Angela Ruggerio is widely known as being as one of the top familiar faces in womens hockey. Thanks to her appearance on reality tv, her advocacy on the US Olympic committee, and ever presence on social media (see screen capture), she is definitely a popular hockey player among the fans. She's won numerous IIHF and Olympics medals, but also has one game to her credit while suiting up for the Tulsa Oilers along side her brother goaltender.

Haley Wickenheiser is no stranger to play amongst the boys as well. Though she wasn't the first female credited to break the gender barrier, she's the first female to register a point for Kirkkonummen Salamat of the Finnish Elite League. But she is also known as a pioneering spirit on the perpetually-winning Team Canada.

I am looking forward to having both ladies in NHL action real soon!

Canada Day Cup 2012

Hockey fans across the entire continent are sure blessed to have the sport we love to unite us across the border. After 10 years of covering hockey, I've come upon meeting many people around the world. So, therefore, I celebrate in a special way July 1st in support of them. It was 10 years ago today, in this annual tradition, that I take the time in my activities to simulate a hockey tournament on my Playstation 3 system. So, let me break down the history of this "prestigious" championship.

The first year I chose a format with an East-West 1 game elimination where each Canadian team started the first round against their provincial rivals. As it was my hobby, I would make sure I would be using the most up-to-date rosters.

But as the years went on, EA Sports continued to grow their hockey game franchise and adopted a more true to life scenario whereas they allow users to make their own tournament pools and schedule preliminary games to seed them. To make the tournament even, I had to include the two Canadian franchises that moved to the states, but with thanks to EA Sports, used Colorado and Phoenix in their retro Nordiques and Jets jerseys. But now that the NHL 12 includes the new Winnipeg Jets (formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers) it left me up to an interesting conundrum.

2012 Results:

So, do I use the Phoenix franchise in the tournament knowing that they have the original Jets in their lineage or do I use the team called the Winnepeg Jets. After careful thought, I decided that the new Jets were going to make their debut into this tournament simulation.

Both Eastern and Western conference pools were simulated with preliminary rounds and got to the featured 8 teams in the brackets. With it being a single KO tournament, the final game came down to another Battle of Alberta as the Edmonton Oilers faced their rivals Calgary Flames.

The first period was pretty tight. There weren't any goals until Edmonton lit the lamp twice. There was actually more physicality than goals. That's what playing in a rivalry game is like. I want to believe that a real life tournament game would look just like this. With 3 mintues left in the game, the Flames did manage to get one past Khabibulin to cut the lead in half. But Edmonton killed off the clock and got awarded the COHF Canada Day Cup (see pictured). The Oilers Taylor Hall was the MVP of the tournament coming up with 9 total tournament points.

Previous Canada Day Champions
2002: Toronto Maple Leafs
2003: Edmonton Oilers
2004: Quebec Nordiques
2005: Montreal Canadians
2006: Montreal Canadians
2007: Winnipeg Jets
2008: Calgary Flames

2009: Vancouver Canucks

2010: Toronto Maple Leafs

2011: Quebec Nordiques

Thank you for reading this part of the blog. I'm going back to read up on the free agency news.

EA Sports NHL 12 to Feature Legendary Ex-Players

In the latest promotional video for Electronic Art's sports division, they've gone again and made the perfect hockey video game.

As if the only new additions to the NHL franchise from EA Sports is going to have the Winter Classic, but EA Sports again ramps up it's value by adding retired NHL legends as playable characters.

9 former NHL players are going to be included into the game and they are all Hall of Famers in their respective careers. Lemieux, Gretzky and Yzerman are just some of the players that are all featured in the game. Check out the link and watch the promo videos because importing the video image to this blog was proving to be very difficult.

What would it look like for a some of these players to pass the torch to the future NHL stars of today? I guess we could find out. How great would it have been if Lemieux was able to suit up and play for the Penguins one more time in the Winter Classic. What if he played for the Leafs? The above video explores the many possibilities for what legendary careers could've become.

I love this idea and hope that they plan on expanding the game to include more players like Pat LaFontaine of the NY franchises that would be a great DLC addition to the legends roster.

What do you think?

[Via: EA Sports NHL]

NHL 12 Promises to Be Best Yet

Everybody knows I love the NHL game series created by EA Sports. So, the latest preview release of the latest innovative feature technologies that will comprise the makeup of NHL 12 will surely provide hours of fun and infuse it with enough attention grabbing effects to allow fans to open up their wallets and pay the exorbitant $59.99 price.

The top improvement that stands out in my mind is the ability to play in the Winter Classic. But it's not just a random and generic Winter Classic, it's one that is hosted by Pittsburgh at Heinz Field, and seems to share the same virtual design from their football division.

Check out the video here and let me know what you think in the comments below.

More NHL 12 Videos

Look at exactly what is also selling the game. BIG HITS! The kind of hits that the NHL execs are trying to legislate out of the game. This should stick in the mud of everybody who wants a "kinder" and "safer" league. Of course, these players in the game aren't real and nobody actually gets hurt, but EA Sports work dedicatedly to make the game look and feel as real as possible. They're selling a sports game engine that magnifies the violence of the sport to new levels. Even worked on the goalies fighting.

I will wait to see what NHL 2K12 has in store next year as well.

Adam Burrish Apologizes to a Fan for NHL 11 Gameplay

In what should be seen as a true sense of sportsmanship and humor, winger Adam Burrish recorded an apology to a video game playing fan who was thwarted on a 2-0 breakout by the in-game Burrish. So, as the story goes as reported by Yahoo! Sports hockey bloggers, the fan who was playing NHL 11 sent an angry letter demanding an apology to the real Dallas Stars and the real Adam Burrish. Here is the video from NHL Video.

You got to love a guy who has that kind of time and a sense of humor to acknowledge the ridiculous email from the fan. My only concern is that this sets a precedent to hockey players who may get similar requests from gamblers and other disappointed people. But either way, you just got to laugh along with Burrish at the response.


[Via: Yahoo! Sports]

NHL 10 Review

Even with the full faith of understanding that the EA Sports franchise has the ability to create thee perfect franchised hockey video game with the hype and anticipation, the franchise never really understands that it needs to hire me as a critical beta tester before it goes to print. How in the world EA Sports allows a game to get so close and yet so far away is beyond my hockey knowledge. Here is my critical review of NHL [20]10 for the Playstation 3.

Starting with the good in this game, I would have to say that the changes to the game play by finally utilizing the full potential of video game consoles the current video game technology. The players are looking and moving more like the real thing. The addition of board play in the game considers a long-lost aspect of the game that allows players to slow down the game instead of making it a resemblance of chaotic arcade-style air hockey. The more puck control that the game offers will minimize any human or computer opponent from swooping in and taking the puck from you.

The next big change that I like is the familiar menu pages with easier to find subcategories of online functions. They improved the "NHL 10 Online" menu with a screen selection that tailors to your need of just a random network game or invite your PSN friend. I often wondered how to re-invite other online users, but found NHL 09 a little disorienting.

The much talked about improved fighting engine takes a page from EA Sports' Fight Night boxing series and utilizes the analog sticks. Long gone are the button-obliterating strategy for a more flexible look that imposes strategy than finger stamina dexterity. And I am also glad that they figured out how in-game fighting affects the players, fans, and teammates accordingly. The next step in improving the realism aspects would only logically have Georges Laraque coming to your home and literally pummeling your noggin.

NHL 10 is one of the first games I purchased after having finally been fully acclimated to the internal WiFi options of my PS3, I was really glad to see the immediate online updates. Version 1.01 makes me think I am getting a lot of the initial bugs removed. Plus, the first roster update dated from the time of the game's release was also fantastic to see. I don't have to bother manually trading players around to assure me of having the most up-to-date rosters. The trading deadline will be less time consuming knowing EA Sports will take care of who went where.

I also cannot express my appreciation that allowing the menu soundtrack and in-game music to be selected by the user like NHL 09 did for the X-Box 360. Now, I can have the Penguins take the ice to their standard classic "Boys of Winter" theme song. I also have not liked mostly the music that EA Sports provided in the past.

Okay, now on to the bad things in the game that I could do without.

Patrick Kane. Could you do any worse for a player with no recognizable value? I expect NHL 11 to have Jakub Voráček on the cover.

Secondly, I presume EA Sports decided that if they are going to make their games the most realistic, they would have to include the chippy post-whistle behaviors. They could not have made a more heart-wrenching mistake than this. I had personal issues with the childish antics of online players who take those kinds of liberties. My policy is this. Those antics are disrespectful and I immediately turn off the game. Why EA Sports felt the need to give these kids justification and a reason to continue angers me. Looks like another year of incomplete online games played!

Once again, EA Sports has to wait it out until all of the 3rd jerseys have been officially released to the public before they can have them shown in the game. Why can't the league just enforce a deadline for all teams debuting a third jersey to do so by a certain date or risk having their news story taken away? Allowing the game franchise to be held hostage to the whims of teams PR depots actually lowers the games enjoyment for video game consumers.

I was also disappointed with the 100 year Canadian all-star team. That was last year. It was a great feature in NHL 09. Why is it still there?

EA Sports, take heed! Here is the list of improvements that must be taken seriously so that the franchise can finally get over the hump and sink into the valley of video game perfection:

1. I know a few female gamers that are unsatisfied with only a male create-a-player. Why not adjust things for gender inter-changeability? And since nobody is really getting hurt, there is no real taboo with co-ed action.


2. Enough with this "wait for the unlock code" stuff. I feel like I am not enjoying the game to it's fullest.


3. Allow created customizable teams to be uploaded from the EA Sports world website and then reintroduced through the console. NCAA 10 does this. Why doesn't all EA Sports franchises share these aspects with the other franchise games?

Overall, the good continues to outweigh the bad, but until certain aspects of the game are changed, EA Sports will have to wait again next year for that 5 out of 5 pucks of perfection.

Rating: 4.35 Pucks of 5

Canada Day Championships 2009

This year, I continued to expand the COHF tradition of Canada Day Championship tournament by turning my day long celebrations into a video blog that shows my enthusiasm for celebrating July 1st.

Along with this blog 7 years in the running, one of the mainstays I have carried on is the Canada Day Cup tournament simulated through EA Sports' NHL series.

Who wins the Canada Day Cup 2008? Who knows? Check back with us real soon!!!



Previous Canada Day Champions
2002: Toronto Maple Leafs
2003: Edmonton Oilers
2004: Quebec Nordiques
2005: Montreal Canadiens
2006: Montreal Canadiens
2007: Winnipeg Jets
2008: Calgary Flames

NHL 09 May Contain Winter Classic

Sean Leahy of the blog Going Five Hole has scored a great interview with a representative of EA Sports and drilled him with questions about the upcoming NHL 09 due to hist stores this September 9th. You can read the full interview by the link at the bottom.

I think the last paragraph of his blog article pretty much catches it all.

One of the questions I asked was about whether or not a Winter Classic mode in the game. Eric answered "can't say". Now, he knows all about the game at this point and he holding back information for obvious reasons. I have to believe if there was zero chance of this addition being in the 09 game, he would have just outright say 'no' correct?

There is a "huge surprise" left to be announced by EA Sports regarding NHL 09. Until it's officially out of the bag, I'm saying the Winter Classic will be a playable mode.

That makes total sense to me too. The only outdoor fun on NHL 08 was with the mini games one-on-one skills competitions.

[Via: Going Five Hole]