Isn't it kind of insulting to the NHL and the sport of hockey

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@Jammalammalam wrote:

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You're trying to poke the puck off of a player skating at you, while you're skating at them. You knocked the puck loose, but because you overcommitted in your skating, you had zero ability to pick it up. 

This should've been a body check and/or a backskate to angle the puck carrier off into the boards.

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

You are completely missing the point and the forward should lose the puck in that situation 10 out of 10 times.

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He did. Defender overcomitted while skating and couldn't pick it up

Well yeah if someone is skating at me I shouldn’t have to hit or skate back and hope the poke check works. I’m telling you this is what needs to be fixed. If a forward skates into me and I have high d awareness my guy should skate and take the puck or the poke check there should’ve jarred it loose and then the team would have a transition play. 

I see it all the time in real Games. Instead of dumping the puck the team tries to force it in and it’s easy to strip the puck and go the other way.. but for some reason in this game you have to do a a precise move on defense. Overskate or underskate it shouldn’t matter. The player should be able to pick that puck up and make contact I would think? Otherwise teams can just force every play. 

I just still don’t understand why the game is so forgiving to offense but do unforgiving to defense. I guess that’s my main point. Why should it be hard to dump the puck? Why should it be hard to take the puck? Why does the game have to be harder than it should be. I shouldn’t have to compensate and play conservative on that play with it’s the forward who was too aggressive. 

i dunno. Maybe I’m just crazy but you have to admit there should’ve been more of a collision with the puck there 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

Well yeah if someone is skating at me I shouldn’t have to hit or skate back and hope the poke check works. I’m telling you this is what needs to be fixed. If a forward skates into me and I have high d awareness my guy should skate and take the puck or the poke check there should’ve jarred it loose and then the team would have a transition play. 

I see it all the time in real Games. Instead of dumping the puck the team tries to force it in and it’s easy to strip the puck and go the other way.. but for some reason in this game you have to do a a precise move on defense. Overskate or underskate it shouldn’t matter. The player should be able to pick that puck up and make contact I would think? Otherwise teams can just force every play. 

I just still don’t understand why the game is so forgiving to offense but do unforgiving to defense. I guess that’s my main point. Why should it be hard to dump the puck? Why should it be hard to take the puck? Why does the game have to be harder than it should be. I shouldn’t have to compensate and play conservative on that play with it’s the forward who was too aggressive. 

i dunno. Maybe I’m just crazy but you have to admit there should’ve been more of a collision with the puck there 

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No you're not crazy at all. the offense is completely handheld while the defense requires absolute mastery of all the game mechanics to put themselves in the best spot to not get beat.

the lack of low-speed hitting and incidental contact makes defense that much harder and that much farther away from real hockey and real positioning...everything about this game is so passive and about getting an auto interception....which again passive defense isnt a thing you see in high-level hockey when players have stamina and auto interceptions arent what id consider a skilled play from a video game perspective so im not sure why we keep going to the route of 900 mph passes and auto intercepts when we have the tuners and sliders to take a more skilled and manual approach to this game without removing too much aaccessibility 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

Well yeah if someone is skating at me I shouldn’t have to hit or skate back and hope the poke check works.

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If someone is skating at you, and you're skating at them - what do expect to happen when you hit poke check? In this specific scenario, you've got two forwards entering the zone and you decide to skate directly at one of them.

You hit poke check and knocked the puck loose. That's what should've happened based on your actions.

What you should've been doing was either committing to the body check or skating backwards and angling the puck carrier off to the boards, a very basic fundamental defensive play that any player of any level understands. If you ever had a coach in real hockey tell you "skate directly at the puck carrier who is skating directly at you and just try to knock the puck off his stick with a poke check" - get your money back. 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

 If a forward skates into me and I have high d awareness my guy should skate and take the puck or the poke check there should’ve jarred it loose and then the team would have a transition play. 

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The forward skated into you, but you also skated into them. The puck came loose. But because you were skating away from the loose puck and the puck carrier was skating towards the loose puck, they got possession. 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

 Overskate or underskate it shouldn’t matter.

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It absolutely should matter! You're responsible for what your player does. Attributes can improve your success-rate in any given scenario depending on the attributes themselves, but trying to claim that being responsible for your player's speed and skating "shouldn't matter" is just wrong.

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

I just still don’t understand why the game is so forgiving to offense but do unforgiving to defense

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I agree with this, but defending is a skill that needs to be practiced. From my experience, many people do not defend properly. They want to mash poke check, rush body checks and generally pull players out of position trying to chase the puck carrier, getting unsatisfactory results and then blaming the game for it. 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote: The player should be able to pick that puck up and make contact I would think?

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The exact moment you knock the puck loose, it is in between your feet and actively moving away from your stick, while simultaneously, you are skating AWAY from it. Why should you have obtained possession of this puck?

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

i dunno. Maybe I’m just crazy but you have to admit there should’ve been more of a collision with the puck there 

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You're not crazy. I just think this specific scenario played out the way it did because you overcommitted with your skating and made a poor defensive decision. I'm not attacking you, making fun of you or mean no offense whatsoever. I'm just pointing out what you could've done better so that you experience this less. 

I get your points but if defenseman have to play the position then so should forwards too. If you’re going to hold a defender to that same standard then let’s also hold the forward to the standard too. So going forward we need to see forwards play their positions properly as well. 

I guess it’s ok to skate out of control as a forward but as a defender you have to skate in control, Angle your guy correctly, etc etc but you can skate straight into someone and still keep the puck. I understand defense is a skill and I understand that this defender could’ve done things better.. 

BUT what did the forward do to avoid losing the puck as well? Didn’t do puck control, didn’t deke, didn’t move the puck away.. 

it’s a double standard. And this isn’t me in the video. I take great pride in playing defense well and understand the good d men are sought after.. but at some point you kinda get sick and tired of having to be perfect when the offense can get away with so much. Defense should take skill/smarts/IQ but so should offense. 

ok im not that mad I swear. I just don’t understand some of the logic/balance in these games sometimes 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

 If you’re going to hold a defender to that same standard then let’s also hold the forward to the standard too. So going forward we need to see forwards play their positions properly as well.  

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Forwards do have to play their positions. I don't understand this idea that people carrying the puck have carte blanche over all areas of the ice. If that's your experience, then you're just not utilizing the defensive mechanics at your disposal in an effective way. 

Defence will always be more difficult than offense. That's the nature of the sport. Defence requires constant attention to detail of where everyone is. Knowing when to be agressive and when not to be. As evidenced in the video in this thread, you're going to pay big prices for defensive failures. That's the way it is in real hockey as well and I don't understand why people think EA's game should deviate from that reality just to give some feeling of 'balance' to people who just aren't good at the other half of the game (defending). 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

I guess it’s ok to skate out of control as a forward but as a defender you have to skate in control, Angle your guy correctly, etc etc but you can skate straight into someone and still keep the puck. 

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It's NOT okay to skate out of control as a puck carrier/forward. It effects your pass accuracy, agility, shot accuracy/power, etc. As evidenced in the clip posted here, the forward is skating at full speed and loses the puck on the poke check. But because the defender made a terrible play (skating OUT of the D-Zone, directly at a puck carrier while bursting with speed and holding DSS) and the puck maintained its trajectory after being dislodged, the forward skating in the direction of the puck came out on top. 

Again, had the defender maintained proper positioning and angled the player off to the boards and/or utilized a body check rather than just skating directly at the puck carrier and hitting poke check, we wouldn't even be discussing this. 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

BUT what did the forward do to avoid losing the puck as well? Didn’t do puck control, didn’t deke, didn’t move the puck away.. 

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Because of the major failure of the defender, the puck carrier simply needed to take a slight step to their right  - they avoided contact with the defender who was wildly out of position, and was able to maintain their direction of skating to obtain the puck that was knocked loose. 

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

it’s a double standard. And this isn’t me in the video. I take great pride in playing defense well and understand the good d men are sought after.. but at some point you kinda get sick and tired of having to be perfect when the offense can get away with so much. Defense should take skill/smarts/IQ but so should offense. 

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You're absolutely right. However, the play in the clip made by the defender was a massive mistake. You can't skate directly at a puck carrier (who has 2-3 available pass options) while hitting poke check/DSS and expect the outcome to be in your favor. Chances are, this aggressive style of defending has worked for you before and you expect it to work out that way every time, but I'm telling you - you'll be far more effective defensively by not skating directly at the puck carrier. Let them come to you and force them to make a move. 

You may think skating right at a puck carrer with a poke check would 'force' them to make evasive moves, but that just makes it easier on the puck carrier. 

@KidShowtime18670 XP on every comment you post trying to defend these unrealistic looking sequences and still clearly missing the big picture? 

You're the only one (or one of the very few) who believes it's fun and realistic to skate and pass through people and to get rewarded offensively for playing in the most basic and dumb, straightforward way possible. Everyone else seems to agree that we'd like an actual HOCKEY videogame, with balance and basic defensive tools that actually work.

I have full confidence in EA that they'll patch this game into something that makes sense. Those who like this crap so much, should probably go rack up the wins forcing passes and hustling in straight line and enjoy it while it lasts instead of wasting time here. Most likely, soon theyll have to go back to 3s Eliminator where the experience they're after belongs.

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@couture2fat2fly wrote:

@KidShowtime18670 XP on every comment you post trying to defend these unrealistic looking sequences and still clearly missing the big picture? 

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Luckily for me, I don't put too much value in how many 'Xp' my posts get. You have to understand most people (not all) come here to cope and rage after something in the game doesn't go their way. When these people post gifs/videos showing things playing out that don't exactly match up with the story they're telling, I'm gonna call it out. People don't like it. Aw well. That's too bad. I'll continue having fun, finding small successes here and there and sharing my knowledge here with those who are willing to listen. 

I understand people don't like it but it is what it is. 

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@couture2fat2fly wrote:

You're the only one (or one of the very few) who believes it's fun and realistic to skate and pass through people and to get rewarded offensively for playing in the most basic and dumb, straightforward way possible. Everyone else seems to agree that we'd like an actual HOCKEY videogame, with balance and basic defensive tools that actually work.

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I don't think this at all and the defensive tools do work, if you use them correctly 😉

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@couture2fat2fly wrote:

I have full confidence in EA that they'll patch this game into something that makes sense. Those who like this crap so much, should probably go rack up the wins forcing passes and hustling in straight line and enjoy it while it lasts instead of wasting time here. Most likely, soon theyll have to go back to 3s Eliminator where the experience they're after belongs.

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The defender in this clip was hustling in a straight line mashing poke check. They knocked the puck loose, but obviously they simply expected to obtain possession, forgetting the puck retains its trajectory. It was a bad defensive play. End of story.

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@KidShowtime1867 wrote:

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@TasteofChicago91 wrote:

 If you’re going to hold a defender to that same standard then let’s also hold the forward to the standard too. So going forward we need to see forwards play their positions properly as well.  

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Forwards do have to play their positions. I don't understand this idea that people carrying the puck have carte blanche over all areas of the ice. If that's your experience, then you're just not utilizing the defensive mechanics at your disposal in an effective way. 

Defence will always be more difficult than offense. That's the nature of the sport. Defence requires constant attention to detail of where everyone is. Knowing when to be agressive and when not to be. As evidenced in the video in this thread, you're going to pay big prices for defensive failures. That's the way it is in real hockey as well and I don't understand why people think EA's game should deviate from that reality just to give some feeling of 'balance' to people who just aren't good at the other half of the game (defending). 

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sprinting with one hand on your stick straight into a defender then getting bailed out due to the fact that the poke was only 99% accurate and the fact that incidental contact just doesn't exist online is not a skilled play.

If you were to go to even a high school level practice and did 1v1's with forwards vs defenders, defenders would win at least 80-90% of the time. 1v1 play on a rush is so much easier on the defender than the forward, so no, this is not like real life and there's no artificial balancing here. what "deviation" are you referring to? what high level games are you seeing rushes where the offense has it naturally easier than the defense on? please link, id love to watch.

anyway, theres a reason the NHL moves the puck the way they do, its not because 1v1 is super offensive-favored scenario....they move the puck like a pinball machine because puck movement combined with quick shots is a much easier way to breakdown the defense and get them chasing than 1v1 scenarios.

theres obviously a huge skill gap netween good and bad defenders, but the majority of that comes down to edgework and skating. If youd ask any defenseman in the league to take a straight-up rush on anyone in the league, they'll have good success assuming theres no passing options and the only thign theyh have to do is stop their mark...thats rather routine for even 7th defensemen in the show. Not saying theyll never get beat, but id put money theyre not getting cooked on a 1v1 much more often than even a Mcdavid-level player can make a highlight deke around them...

but again, hockey is so contextual that its really hard to compare glass-box scenarios with any game scenarios...ihave been around the game long enough though to know that simply mirrioring a single forward on a rush with the goal of "dont get walekd" would be a rather mundane task.

so yeah, dont agree in the slightest the offense is easier than defense. its the attackers job to use deception, speed, and skill to make the defender bite...thje defender just needs to not get caught flat footed and stay on their mark. 

so back to the video game - where did the offesnive player do anything right in this clip? defensive player at least did something...offensive guy clicked LS down into a space occupied by a defender and got rewarded with a clean nutmeg beat....im seeing artifical balance here but its certainly not favoring defense...