NHL 2011 Demo is online now 
Hey I canāt play it yet but is the ultimate team thing cool?
I hear you like aquire players like hockey cards and you are aloud to make any team possible once you get all of them
that sounds lame. Of course i think anyone that doesnāt play with the proper rosters is lame too.
yeah but u have to earn ur players. I dunno, the starting team I got, my good players were Malkin, Perry, Hall, and a few others. The new faceoffs took awhile to figure out. I like the new hitting (I hit somebody hard enough to fuck their world up). And FINALLY broken sticks!!! Fighting is a little better now (although still the same engine more or less).
broken sticks eh? how does that work?? seems like it could get annoying. The best hockey fighting ever was in nhl hitz. Or nhl 96
I hit a guy, and later noticed he had no stick. U can REALLY hit people hard enough that they aināt getting right back up again. As for fighting, its the same as the last game, only itās a little harder to instantly win, or throw like 50 punches in 5 seconds. Still seems a little too much like a turtle fest.
Passing is odd, considering you can now fuck up recieving a pass (depending on various things). The speed of the demo seems WAY too slow though. You skate like youāre the fucking Islanders
you got TAYLOR HALL?? OUR SAVIOUR?
hmmm just on a hitā¦i was thinking like you went to take a shot and your stick just broke. Yeah the passing thing seems strangeā¦seems like they are going for to much realizim there. like i understand how you fuck up a pass in real lifeā¦but i donāt see how you would make that enjoyable in a game
I havenāt found FUCK ALL for controls (or decent info) on google, so here is the best I can offer (controls are for 360, do the math for PS3):
Faceoffs:
You basically pick a way you wanna take the faceoff. Depending on which way your guy holds his stick, either left or right is forehand and backhand. To win the faceoff, you do a Quartercircle to down.
Add to that the fact you can also move your body during a faceoff, with the left stick. Just press it like you would skate at a guy. You can turn your body this way, or just tie up the other center. Combine the two sticks for some interesting faceoff wins. Seriously, I get pumped when a well planned faceoff comes to fruition.
Desparation/Stupidity allows you to press LB+up on the right stick, to push the puck forward and deke the center. It donāt always work obviously. Dunno how to counter it properly yet, aside from taking the body.
Shooting/Passing/Hitting:
All three are almost identical to the last games lol.
Shooting:
You are able to completely fall down and still control the puck, not just from your knees lol. Caught me unprepared first time it happened to me. Shooting through a group of players is next to impossible unless you really get ahold of a slapshot. Clogging the passing/shooting lanes seems to REALLY work. Also seems harder to get a decently accurate shot at the net if youāre at an absurd angle or skating weird before you shoot. I swear Iāve seen weird off balance shots, during hits.
Passing:
Passing is a BIT different. You really need spot on passing now. If you donāt do it properly, the player canāt get a good start, and will have like zero acceleration from having to bobble the puck, or pull it up, or bounce of them, or whatever. Iāve seen Kane reach/look back to get the puck during a bad 2 line pass, slow down and get fucking murdered by Pronger. MURDERED. Speaking ofā¦
Hitting:
Hits are incredible. Physics seems waaaaaay more realistic. They claim no hit is the same, and I think they could be right. It seems like a weird combination of animations on ragdoll physics. Iāve also seen hits that donāt injure, and I swear it takes a LOT longer for the other guy to get up. Looks like getting rocked is actually able to keep you out of play for a bit, rather than just briefly stalling you. You feel REALLY bad when you fucking smoke a guy coming up the boards, and he goes head first and crumples lol. I have seen some absolutely merciless hits Open ice hits react different too. Hit a guy at an angle, and they kinda roll off you, or get bumped to the side. Iāve also hit/carried guys away from the puck (carried them away, and left the puck behind me). Youāll see what I mean when you play the demo.
New Dekes:
Only really found one, but it can extend to other dekes, making it probably one of the more versatile tools. LB+down on the right stick lets you bounce the puck off your skate. But if you hold Left or Right first on the right stick, you can get some interesting bounce off the foot dekes, or fake dekes.
There seem to be other dekes too, aside from the old LB+360 (clockwise or counterclockwise gives different dekes), and the LB left to right (or vice versa) deke.
New features Iāve noticed:
-Broken sticks happen many different ways. Slapshots, one timers, nice hits, slashing a dude. You can actually play without a stick differently, even playing with your hands and shit. To get a new stick, you have to go to the bench. Iāve been demanding this for a LOOOONG time. Broken stick piece can fuck with things too, including players and the puck. Have only seen 1 stick at a time break, so I dunno if it can happen multiple times.
-As stated before, you can fall down in various ways, and still have a bit of puck control. Itās weird when it happens. So far mostly seen it while lying face down on my stomach.
-Goalie AI seems a lot smarter now, especially with respect to behind the net garbage and one timers. Also seems to auto freeze the puck more realistically compared to real NHL hockey (no more slapshots to the chest from feet away that you can just drop and pass). Still scored a shit goal on a terrible pass through the crease where the goalie stood there and let me roof it.
-Board play seems to take a bit longer to get the puck out
-Large groups of players tend to keep the puck in one area for awhile. Even skating speed seems dramatically slower when youāre in one of these āgroupsā
-They brought back Line Chemistry (or at least a way to read it). It shows a triangle, with three lines (either red green or yellow), and a symbol of 3 silhouettes that look like a lag bar. Same three colours apply. Defence is just a line between the two, same three colours. Oddly enough, still the 3 silhouette symbol for the 2 defencemen lol.
-Demo settings are quite stupidly low. Almost empty bar for Game Speed, Poke Checking, and a few other key stats.
-Upon further viewing, I think the ultimate team is likely the same for everybody.
-Changing your lines affects team chemistry (1 point per player changed/swapped). Figured this out after fucking with my first and third line constantly just to test line chemistry hurray 12 team chemistry 
-You get to use whatever jersey was most used or your EANHL guys jersey or something, cuz I am wearing the blue and mother fucking white baby.
Iām still on the fence for this game, but Iām definitely liking a lot of it, and can see potential. Just worried some shit may lead to abuse, and dunno most of the new changes 100% yet. Definitely playing the shit out of the demo though
When you first start your team in EAUHL, why does the game automatically put your worst players on the top lines and scratch your best players?
Chemistry 
Iāve seen some odd AI behaviour. Seen the opponent take the puck at my blue line then suddenly skate straight to his goalie with the puck. Defence seem to try to block the net if the goalie gets caught out of it. Still would like a better idea of how to go about taking faceoffs.
Seen some absolutely DIRTY dangles though
man reading up on the penguins lately, ive realized what a weak franchise they are
they always depend on one superstar generational player or else the team sucks huge balls and almost folds
weak as shit
Pens fan base is very fickle. Pittsburgh is a pretty low tier sports city, they had an founding NBA team that folded in one season.
That and they have that stupid superstition that only one team does well at a time.
They do love their pirates and steelers for some reason. I guess itās just a really American market.
Mighty big faceoff circle you have, NHL development camp - Puck Daddy - NHL - Yahoo! Sports
Like looking at a cyclops. Somehow. Even Iām not sure where I got that comparison from.
But hey, lookie at that blue line.
man some of the shit they come up with is retarded. im glad most of this shit never sees the light of day. Its like they want to turn hockey into a joke. Like really who are these people that are even asking for more goals. Most games now you have atleast 5 or 6 goalsā¦like wtf.
Canucks signed Raffi Torres, yadda yadda yadda. Good pool of 3rd and 4th line forwards, gonna be interesting to see who makes the team out of camp. Cody Hodgson ect.
Also sad to see Willie Mitchell go. He makes the Kings just a little better if he stays healthy.
Also new rules and gimmicks are dumb. I think they just test that stuff for the novelty and to make it look like hockey is mad progressive. Bettman is a like a politician in his pandering to international media.
yeah I get you want to āgrowā the sport.
I know the off season has itās quirks and dry spellsā¦
but this fucking thread
If you had to compare an NHL player to a fruitā¦ - HFBoards
On the thing about going to games, Cap tickets are only 50~60 bones for a good seat. Even playoff tickets arent bad. Prices dont appear to be going up this year either
man sutter owned his shit hard.