My initial reactions after playing for an evening.
Online Versus Play:
- Finally fast skaters can get past D-men. Ridiculous it took this long. Gone are the days when sluggish D-men found sub-human speed bursts when going for a loose puck.
- It appears that you can go back to exploiting (no, not the cheating kind) weaker players. By this, I mean they can't simply mash buttons and miraculously knock over players. Take, for example, the terrible defensive practice of simply lying down in front of the net and staying there. They'll get plenty of penalties now.
- Hitting is wonky. I understand that there aren't bone-crushing hits every 5 mintues, and while I like the less hitting, it seems they turbo-boosted puck control abilities. Basically, give it to a power forward and go end to end. It's unlikely they'll knock you off the puck. Couple that with puck protect, and you have a real hard time getting them off it. This has happened several times already. Try and poke? They dive like Hemsky. Stick lift? 4-min double minor.
I'm sure it's just a new system. I acutally prefer this over last year, will just have to adapt, I suppose.
- Agreed on the lame goals. 5-hole is definately easier to score this year. However, a loose puck will get through a lot of the times to an apparent hopeless tender.
- The board play is cool, but I happen to press too early sometimes and I inadvertently facewash a guy and get a penalty.
EASHL is wicked. Some hiccups with the system last night, but that always happens with EA. New room menu makes it easier to navigate and see who's in what room etc. It seems we're always matched against teams with same amount of players. Very, very, very necessary improvement.
Can't really think of more things right now. Can't wait to get the 360 league going.