Hey man,
Ya I could only imagine living in Saskatchewan playing NHL.
Im in calgary and hear you. 50ms is a half a second. As a human can react in about .18 to.2 ms on a stop watch.
50 ms is 2-3 clicks difference.
Playing higher skilled games in HUT or VS this becomes the difference between switching players, making passes and deking, taking shots and hitting, and most annoyingly poke checks which result in a penalty. or in CHEL. I know for a fact I take way more poke checking penalties when playing on servers over 58ms, win less faceoffs and cant make a pass.
At least in HUT you can set the max PING, which I started using this year. ( never played HUT until this year for this exact reason).
Im not sure what rank Aljo is but as you move higher in the ranks this definitely plays a factor when playing the LT start stop abuser scrub players.
When it comes to club for example, when ping is 30, we score, we win, my faceoff percentage is over 60%. When ping is above 58ms, I cant score, the puck gets knocked off my stick when the guy isnt even around me, I get hit as if the guy has sped up into me. and faceoffs drop to below 40%, taking penalites along the way cant make passes.
The experience is night and day.
As for versus which I had to stop this year cuz of this exact issue. Every single game if the ping is over 40ms I will not play. I refuse. This year they have changed the matchmaking settings behind the scenes and I would get matched up with way more 40+ ping games. I sat for over an hour multiple times to get a GREEN under 40 ping vs game to no a avail so I started playing HUT.
My record for a solid ping under 40ms is 80% winning percent. BAd ping, goes to 50/50. I play a tight game, using my stickhandling and puck movement to gain space with a strong defense one on one game. I play defesne head on, With high ping you cant do this, you take penalties and miss good chances, and when switching players the servers cant keep up to your reaction times.
Hence Lag.
If you aren't able to see the game's ping playing a factor into your outcome, you're likely missing a key variable that can impact your performance, reaction times, and overall gameplay experience.