NHL 15 freezing on startup (PS3)

Wow is all I can say. I was extremely excited getting this game for Christmas from my girlfriend. My internet is no good so I don't play online often but what I do love playing is the Live the Life mode. My game freezes in the middle of the season in the WHL with the silver tips at the simulation stage between game 34 and 35. I then made a new character with different position, team, league, gear, etc. Froze in my second season at game 12. Same simulation freezing issue. I have the game in disk form for the PS3. I have tried playing through with PSN turned off and it still freezes. I have uninstalled and done everything else mentioned in many forums to no avail. I will NEVER purchase another EA game after the call I had with them. Basically, I told them the issue and linked several forums that outlined this issue. They kept telling me to backup my data and delete the save and then try again (which I had previously already tried). They told me to call back when I had tried again. I called back and told them that it hadn't worked and they told me to talk to a "specialist" and they will have a specialist call me when he is available. I then asked for a refund and they are refusing to refund me. This is pathetic and anyone who buys future games from them is only funding a fraudulent company. This game also has MANY other bugs that EA refuses to fix.