I think what you're seeing is the base skill-level in online environments beginning to creep up. This means more people are becoming more skilled at the game and habits you formed during early days won't work against more skilled opponents. As the META evolves, more and more claims of EA changing things start coming out. We all have our problems with how EA does some things, but one thing we can say for sure is that they're always forthright about any gameplay adjustments.
The stick lift button in '25 has become an effective tool when you gain body positioning on a puck carrier and want to strip them of the puck. There's a method to using stick lift that will result in 0 penalties. You just need to become skilled enough with the mechanic to know when the animation will interact with the player model before it interacts with the stick.
If you execute a stick lift and your stick comes into contact with the puck carrier's body before it contacts the stick, the probability of a penalty being called goes up significantly whereas if you execute a stick lift and you only come into contact with the stick, it will never be called a penalty.
