Video game reviews, NHL 2K7, EA NHL 07 and NHL 94

A fan posted this short clip of highlights from NHL 2K7 cover athlete Joe Thornton set to Dozer's "Drawing Dead" (Note: link to 2KSports official clip here). For a higher video quality review, IGN associate editor Jon Miller took a look at the XBOX 360 version.

Miller notes the improved game play, a contender-like cinema score that varies with how your team is performing on the ice, an improved skating engine with excellent backwards skating, new game modes (pond hockey, mini-rink, sky box), new adaptive rivalry features, and an extensive list of online options including 30-man seasons, tournaments and fantasy drafts. IGN gave the XBOX 360 version of NHL 2K7 an 8.9. The full written IGN review is available here.

Jon Miller also hosted a video review of EA's NHL 07. He notes that the new EA skill stick will take about 10 games to get used to, that new puck physics will add variety to the game play, and that Dynasty mode allows the player complete control over every aspect of a hockey team. IGN was not impressed with EA's online offerings, ranked and unranked play, and gave EA NHL 07 an overall score of 8.7 out of ten. The full written IGN review is available here.

A complete list of all the NHL video games for all platforms is available here.

More along my style, Eric McErlain recently pointed to an online league at NHL94.com. They have ported the Sega Genesis and Nintendo versions of EA's NHL 94 title, and created 4 online divisions with over 80 players. Take a look. Signups are full for this season, but contact them to participate in the spring.

[Update] In a recent Washington Post article, David Betancourt tried to beat EA NHL07 cover athlete Alexander Ovechkin at his own game.

We agree on a best-of-three format. The first two games he will play as himself and the Capitals, and I will play with the Phoenix Coyotes. The third game will be for national pride as I'll play with the U.S. national team and Ovechkin will take the Russian national team.

"Why Phoenix?" he asks.

I explain that the Coyotes were the team he scored his famous behind-the-back, no-look goal on in January and that I want to see if he had any more magic against them. That gets a laugh.

[Update2] IGN traveled to the Sharks practice facility at the Logitech Ice Center in San Jose and mic'd up cover athlete Joe Thornton.

The results were a little unsuspected:

2K Sports wanted the authentic arena atmosphere. They wanted to capture the players as they truly are, what they say and do on the ice and put it in the game.

Only thing is, if they use the uncensored content from Wednesday's practice session in San Jose where the Sharks, including cover athlete Joe Thornton were mic'd, the game would have to be rated M.

I had the headphones on as Thornton spit on the ice, blew his nose, then talked to his coach. When his coach spoke it was F-this, F-that, get in the F'n zone and score a F'n goal (paraphrased for the weak of heart).

Mic'ing Thornton would be good, but capturing head coach and quote machine Ron Wilson should also have been a priority. IGN reports that Thornton is a gamer from the days of "making heads bleed" on a Sega Genesis, and that Pavel Bure and Alexander Moginly were two of his favorite cyber hockey players. Both are good choices, but Al Iafrate with his 100 strength slapshot and 0 accuracy still gets the nod. #77 Ray Bourque was also unstoppable.

2KSports producer Ben Bishop also had to dodge players at the practice who wanted to confront them about their in-game player ratings.

"We have one guy, Doug Murray, who is an up and down player, and he had to send one of our teammates down so he could get on the roster and play. He couldn't believe he was a 60. 'A 60! What are you doing to me?' He wanted to see if I could talk to the guys who make the game. Put in a good word. It was funny, he got a good kick out of it."

The first few training camps defenseman Doug Murray attended, you could not help but notice one player consistently flattening opponents each time he took the ice. The audible crunches made everyone at the practice rink take notice.

It is great to see in practice, but that does not always translate into the game. Murray's first few NHL games he would line up and paste someone every other shift. Opponents began to take notice, and skate with their head up when he was on the blueline. He has a case when he claims that his ranking is underrated.

[Update3] Old School.

[Update4] Setting up a public EA or 2K Sports NHL lan tournament would be a great promotion here in Silicon Valley. Internet cafe's are a dying breed, but Euphnet is one of the stalwarts who have remained in business with two locations in the South Bay (downtown San Jose, Sunnyvale). Setting up a PC version of NHL 07 would be possible with the number of on-site PC's, but an Xbox 360 tournament would require a number of consoles. Contact me (jon at sharkspage) if you work for one of the related companies and you are interested in setting up a tournament.

[Update5] Link via Puck Update, Jason Kottke (purveyor of fine hypertext products) discovers a few NHL 94 videos and the above mentioned NHL 94 online league.

Stockton overcomes Long Beach 4-3 in overtime after 13 shootout rounds

#40 STOCKTON THUNDER GOALTENDER DEVAN DUBNYK

STOCKTON THUNDER FANS

#35 LONG BEACH ICE DOGS GOALTENDER MIKE BROWN

DUBNYK DIVES FOR THE PUCK IN THE 2ND PERIOD

A last minute Stockton goal by Beau Geisler tied the game at 3-3 in regulation, and sent the Thunder and Long Beach Ice Dogs into overtime. Goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 9 of 13 Long Beach shootout attempts to earn a 4-3 overtime victory.

The win during Saturday's home opener was the third in a row to begin the season. Stockton trails the Las Vegas Wranglers by one point for first place in the Pacific Division.

A photo gallery from the game is available here.

[Update] More game notes:

Opening night was packed with the usual throngs of fans converging on the year-old Stockton Arena. The Thunder offense was a little disjointed early in the game, and the team took 5 penalties and allowed 17 shots on goal in the first period. Both teams combined for 14 penalties and a seemingly endless parade to the penalty box in the second period.

Stockton goaltender Devan "King Kong" Dubnyk is listed at 6-5, 210 pounds. Dubnyk was selected in the first round (14th overall) by the Edmonton Oilers in a draft many called the "year of the big goalie". Al Montoya (6-1, 190) was drafted 6th overall by the New York Rangers. San Jose picked up 6-4, 184 pound Halifax Mooseheads netminder Jason Churchill the same year. 13 other goaltenders selected were 6-2 or taller, with 15 tipping the scales at 190 pounds or above.

It was difficult to take a look at Dubnyk during the second period on my end of the ice because of penalties and the lack of play in the Stockton defensive zone, but 13 overtime shootout attempts gave fans a good look at what they are going to see the rest of the season. Devan Dubnyk is solid positionally, uses his size to play back in the crease more, and possesses good leg mobility. As you can see from the photo above, when down on the ice the 6-5 goaltender leaves about an inch over his shoulder for opponents to shoot at. One errant poke check aside, Dubnyk was able to stifle most of the penalty shots by forcing them to make the first move and then swallowing up open space.

There was talk around the building that Stockton may be a contender for a title this season. They have bulked up on offense, defense, and in goal. It will take a few weeks to see if they can build enough team chemistry to take advantage of that size on a nightly basis, but a 3-0 record to open the season has caused many to take notice.

The Edmonton Oilers also assigned 6-3, 200 pound right wing Stephane Goulet to the Stockton Thunder after he appeared in 2 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL. Goulet lead the QMJHL Moncton Wildcats with 51 goals, and 93 assists in 67 games in 2005-06. The Wildcats won the 2005-06 QMJHL President's Cup, and appeared in the Memorial Cup Finals. Goulet contributed 7 goals, and 8 assists in 13 playoff games.

[Update2] Shootout Survivors, Thunder completes wild rally in home opener, finished by Hodge’s shootout tally - Stockton Thunder.

[Update3] Thunder win in shootout - Stockton Record.

Brendon Hodge proved 13 could be a lucky number for the Stockton Thunder.

Hodge, the 13th skater in a tense shootout, beat Long Beach goalie Mike Brown and gave the Thunder a thrilling 4-3 win in its home opener in front of a crowd of 8,747 on Saturday at Stockton Arena...

"It was a great feeling to do that in front of that kind of crowd," said Hodge, a forward from Lynfield, Mass., who played in Wheeling, Pa., last season. "That's the biggest crowd I played in front of in my three years in the ECHL."

When covering hockey, sportswriters often have a tendency to focus on the negative. The Stockton Thunder drew 228,364 fans during their inaugural season to lead the ECHL. A close division title race, or an extended playoff run this year would generate a lot of interest in the Central Valley. The kind of environment this would generate may be too good a story for some in the media to ignore.

Northern California undefeated to open ECHL season, Stockton and Fresno combine for 3-0 record

STOCKTON THUNDER MASCOT THOR - FILE PHOTO

The Stockton Thunder stockpiled talent prior to the start of their second ECHL season. With several players assigned to the Thunder from the new NHL affiliate Edmonton, the addition of 6-5, 209 pound goaltender Devan Dubnyk, the re-acquisition of forward Steve Slonina, and the addition of several free agents, Stockton has the tools to make an impact in the National Conference this season.

The Thunder faced Bakersfield at Rabobank Arena on Friday's ECHL opening night. Rabobank is a fan-friendly venue with modern facilities and unforgiving seamless glass.

Stockton made a statement with 6 different players scoring goals, 2 in each period (Bodie, O'Connell, Lalonde, Spurgeon, Slonina, Hodge). The Bakersfield Condors pulled starter Jamie Hodson (17 saves, 21 shots), and gave 2004 Los Angeles Kings 7th round draft pick Danny Taylor (26 saves, 28 shots) his first professional appearance. Taylor was last seen on Sharkspage playing for Los Angeles during the 2004 and 2006 Pacific Division Shootout rookie tournaments. Center Nicklas Lindberg scored a power play goal with 11:39 remaining in the third period to put Bakersfield on the board.

Devan Dubnyk made 48 saves on 49 shots, and the Stockton Thunder earned an impressive 6-1 win to open the season.

Thunder dominates Bakersfield Condors - Stockton Record.

Chris Cichocki vowed that the Stockton Thunder would be a much better team this season. But even he was surprised by what he saw on Friday night.

"Yeah, I was a little surprised, you don't expect to come into someone else's building and do this," said Cichocki, who began his second season as Stockton's coach. "I was very pleased. We showed what we could do with the talent we have, and it was a great start."

Condors lose season opener - Bakersfield Californian (subscription only).

"The goaltender on the other side played a great game, but we have to score 5-on-3. Our power play was gawd awful." [Bakersfield Condors coach Marty Raymond]... "That killed us right there,” Raymond said. “We had eight power-plays in a row. That was the game."

Stockton plays at Long Beach on Friday night before hosting the Ice Dogs for their home opener on Saturday night. According to Stockton Record reporter Scott Linesburgh, a sellout at Stockton will equal 9,737 fans instead of the 10,117 fans the previous season due to a reconfigured arena. Linesburgh also has a new Thunder hockey blog on Recordsnet Blogs.

The Thunder recently launched a new website at stocktonthunder.com. In addition to the new graphics and design, they added a blogs page with radio broadcaster Mike Benton and several players slated to contribute throughout the season.


LAS VEGAS GOALTENDER MARC MAGLIARDITI - FILE PHOTO

The first game of the year for the Fresno Falcons previewed one of the rivalries that will be a key for Pacific Division this season. Last year the Pacific Divison champion Fresno Falcons came one overtime goal away from a Game 7 win over Alaska in the National Conference Finals, and a place in the ECHL Kelly Cup Championship series. The Las Vegas Wranglers switched to the Pacific Division after the San Diego Gulls closed up shop last season, and the defending West Division champion brought with them a 6-game winning streak over the Falcons.

The two perennial contenders faced off to open the 2006-07 ECHL season showcasing t