poke check

Poke checking and shoulder checks are totally fine once you master it mate. 

You're going to get penalties from time to time when you miss time it but that's part of the game. I'm probably in the minority on the forum that doesn't watch ice hockey but I do research it to see how the game compares to real life ice hockey. Since the last patch (1.3.0) penalties have been fine. 

Hey, @75fd980e1b183900 

You can do this by holding in RB/R1. This engages the Defensive Skill Stick. You can aim your poke that way. I use this all the time for exactly the same thing you're talking about. I'll cut off their passing lane and force them to try to get to a better position and open up that lane for a pass. You can also click down on the right stick when DSS is engaged and poke.

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@Stubo_NHL24 wrote:

Poke checking and shoulder checks are totally fine once you master it mate. 

You're going to get penalties from time to time when you miss time it but that's part of the game. I'm probably in the minority on the forum that doesn't watch ice hockey but I do research it to see how the game compares to real life ice hockey. Since the last patch (1.3.0) penalties have been fine. 

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You aren't understanding. I am not trying to poke the puck. The goal is put the stick out to take away space from the opposing player. You can't do this because the stick automatically makes an attempt on the puck. This is a fundamental part of defense.

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@EA_Aljo wrote:

Hey, @75fd980e1b183900 

You can do this by holding in RB/R1. This engages the Defensive Skill Stick. You can aim your poke that way. I use this all the time for exactly the same thing you're talking about. I'll cut off their passing lane and force them to try to get to a better position and open up that lane for a pass. You can also click down on the right stick when DSS is engaged and poke.

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Except that you cannot - once you press the poke button, regardless if you hold it or not, the initial action is an automatic poke toward the puck, wherever that is, whether it is L R or in front of you.

As I said, even you hold the R stick to the right, your player will initially make an attempt on the puck even if you want it to go in a different direction.

The only possible way to avoid this is to hit the poke button way in advance, before anyone is near you. It the offender is within X ft of you, however, hitting poke will trigger an automatic "glue to the puck" action, and THEN and only THEN can you move the stick elsewhere.

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@ssoliz91 wrote:

@EA_Aljo 

I believe the OP, like myself and many others, is irritated that you cannot position the hockey stick without starting with a risky/clumsy/directionally-assisted/speed-reducing poke check. 

I have discovered that if you position the right stick before pressing and holding RB/R1, you can sweep the stick without activating the poke animation.  However, because hitting is mapped to the right stick, you cannot position the right stick up or down before pressing and holding RB/R1. Therefore, when wanting your stick positioned in the up or down direction, you are forced to either start with an unwanted poke or to start with your stick in the wrong direction and sweep it (dangerously) into the spot you wanted it in the first place. 
Also, a very little known control (due to the lack of instruction) is the R3 click poke check that can be done while holding RB/R1 to sweep. 

As I’ve suggested before:

• Hitting should be removed from the Right Stick entirely (being that we aren’t given directional control of our hits with the Right Stick anyway, hits might as well just be a button)
• Right Stick alone should be two-handed, non-sweeping stick positioning in any direction
• Holding RB/R1 while using Right Stick should extend/one-handed/sweep your stick positioning.  
• and Poke Checking should be just be R3 click

Stick Checking would look like this:

I know you’ve already seen this Aljo, but for others reading this discussion, please check out my control layout suggestions where I take things even further with the use of Elite/Pro controllers (that have paddles):

 https://answers.ea.com/t5/General-Discussion-News/REAL-Total-Control-Not-Arcade/td-p/13161058

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Yes. You understand the issue. We should be able to fully control the direction of our stick on defense without having an automatic animation that pulls your stick toward the puck. Many times, we are not trying to touch the puck or poke it - just funnel the offender in front of us. We should not have to hit the button before they are within 5 ft of us in order to do so.

@75fd980e1b183900 

Agreed.  If we were give better Stick Checking tools, Body Checking wouldn’t have to be so overpowered and arcade-like. 

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@75fd980e1b183900 wrote:

Except that you cannot - once you press the poke button, regardless if you hold it or not, the initial action is an automatic poke toward the puck, wherever that is, whether it is L R or in front of you.

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Not true. 

Hitting RB and moving RS at the same time will move your stick the direction that RS is pointed. If you're seeing the poke check animation play out before you're able to move RS to where you want - you're not moving RS in fast enough succession after the holding of RB. It can be tricky to time it so you don't see the poke animation play out, but it's entirely possible.

I try to time my movement on RS to be almost exactly the same time as I hit RB - maybe SLIGHTLY after. If I screw up the timing, I leave myself flat footed - but that's the risk/reward that comes with mastering a useful tool like DSS. 

It's another one of those skills on defense that most users flat-out refuse to acknowledge and demand it be changed.