Hello

pretty sure 90% or more of the playerbase never did. 

Sadly people like my team who played real hockey who actually try to play by the spirit of the game are far and few.  Instead we have all the racist kids cesspool of blackdatsyuk x69 who care only about figuring out exploits to compete in spite of their lack of understanding of how to play the game of hockey. 

The silver lining, they seem to be struggling this year....must be a lot of upset kids this year.   

For some of us, that's a rhetorical question. We get it. 

Now, from what I've had to endure, over the years with this series, if you're not part of the "buddy system", then you most definitely will find yourself getting no passes whilst watching these clowns trying to skate through all the opposing players. And despite my efforts to play this hockey video game genuinely, and to the best to my abilities, knowledge, experience, etc., I constantly get paired with those that golf, bowl, and so on, but simply refuse to adhere to the basics of hockey: team work, and positioning. 

I could also add what I (currently) dislike about this series, but playing online usually results in some people refusing to actually give a crap about the best sport in the world: hockey. 

I suppose many (most) have not, but also depends where you are from. Canadians or Swedes are much more likely to have played hockey than Americans or British. But even if you never played hockey, it doesn't mean you can't be a fan who understands how the real sport works. I never played much baseball, but have been watching the sport for decades, so I understand the intricacies of it quite well.