This past Friday I was able to take part in my first NHL Community Day event. I was fortunate enough to visit the Madden NFL 10 Community Day event at Orlando, FL in April which was a ton of fun. So I was looking forward to having the same amount of fun, if not more for this community day. I highly doubt we would be playing the game until 4:00 AM this time however!
On Thursday I got on my flight from Calgary to take me to Vancouver, BC. This would be my first time being in the city, and I’ve always wanted to visit it since everyone says it’s a remarkable place to be, especially when it comes to scenery and environment. The flight took about an hour and half and when I landed I got on the commute bus that took me on my way to the 5-star hotel that EA was keeping the attendees accommodated in. During the bus ride I got to see around the city and it is defiantly up to hype standards with so much vegetation and the close proximity to the mountains.
The group met up across the street from the hotel for some meet and greet for the Canucks game and dinner. As a Flames fan, I was in hostile territory since its Canucks land and they were actually still in the playoffs. But that wasn’t gonna stop me from cheering for the Blackhawks and letting the place know about it. The Canucks came out with the lead in a period where the Hawks got their chances, and restaurant erupted in celebration from the nice goal. the Hawks forced me to remain silent for most of the game until finally late in the third the comeback Blackhawks finally potted one and tied the game up. Me along with several other community day attendees cheered loudly while the rest of the place sat quietly and looked at us. Alain and Adam from the Total Gaming Network were not going to be able to cheer a 3-1 series lead for the Canucks just yet, and they wouldn’t be able to because the Blackhawks were able to score the game winner in OT to tie the series up at the time and leave the Canucks faithful save their cheering for another day. “LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!” Good times for this Flames fan.
After the game we had dinner and talked amongst each other some more during the Red Wings game before heading back to the hotel to catch some sleep and get ready for tomorrow. Alain let me in on what was planned for Friday morning, but told me to remain silent on it towards the rest of the crew. But I did warn everyone to make sure they eat up and get a good night sleep because they will need all the energy they can get to survive.
I unfortunately wasn’t around to see their reactions at the moment when Alain told the crew that morning that we were gonna do some hockey style conditioning workout. This is similar to what NHL Players during training camp and the regular season. Some did seem hesitant towards the idea at first, but didn’t look worried about it and some even looking forward to taking it on (myself included). We got a hearty breakfast to wake up and build our energy, and we were on our way to Twist Conditioning. Matt Mahar, a developer on the NHL 10 game also took part in the workout without.
I suppose the reason I was looking forward to this workout was because I’ve already been doing heavy intensive weight lifting and conditioning over the past several months towards football, so I was prepared to try a hockey style workout that professional hockey players do. That would explain why I’m not in a deal of soreness as I would be otherwise. Our trainers are those that played professional hockey in Europe as well a former 13 year veteran in the MLB. We did such drills that worked on our balancing, legs for skating stride, stick work, agility, first step and reaction. We also did some parachute running and resistance running with partners on an open field. At the end of all, everyone was spent but gave a good effort. It defiantly gave us a new light in just how hard it is to be a hockey player and how they have to be prepared physically.
At that point it was time to get a shower and head off to EA Canada to meet our special NHL guest and check out NHL 10. The EA Canada studio is truly a state of the art building which features its own street hockey rink, soccer field, and basketball court. We all set up in the conference room for lunch where we met up with the NHL 10 Producers and Zach Stortini who we had a Q&A session with. Although I hate him as a player on the ice since he’s an Edmonton Oiler for one, and he annoys the Flames, he’s was a pleasure to meet and gave some real great answers to some good questions. When the question was asked of how a hockey fight actually goes down, I was voted in to be his demonstration dummy. While it was fun to get pushed around like rag doll, I got a little bit of revenge by being able to fight back at him. That one is for you Flames fans!
Afterwards we got to the main event and the developers presented us tje new features and enhancements they have done to the game this year. We had a quick Q&A time and then we got around to playing the game! We spent time on the game for the equivalent of 5 hours where we had some direct questions and discussion with the developers. In 3 of the games I played, I went undefeated. I won against the NHL 09 Community Day champ in one play now and shootout mode game, and I challenged game programmer Jason Rupert to a game; that we didn’t complete, I would’ve won that too.
All in all it was a very fun day and it was a great pleasure meeting everyone from around the community. I’m very grateful and honoured that Alain and the NHL 10 team would invite me to their studios to get a sneak peak on the game and give them feedback on what to work on as they tune the game to perfect it as much as possible for you gamers that will get your hands on it this fall!
