If you’re like me, you’ve been reacting to the horrible news of planned lay-offs, salary cap rollbacks and general lockout terrors by popping in NHL 12, scoring 17 goals per game and pretending hockey will happen on schedule. Also if you’re like me, you make sure the Caps don’t turn into the Three Stooges five seconds into the playoffs.
Anyway, recent hockey news makes me want to curl up into a ball, but recent hockey video game news is GREAT, especially with NHL 13 only two-ish weeks from its September 11 release date. One of the cool features from this year’s game is a new crop of legends, and for the first time ever two female hockey legends have been added to the roster. You could play as created women before, but now Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero are officially licensed, replicated stars.
This appeals to me both as someone who appreciates the contributions women have made to sports, and as someone who picks Chun Li every time he plays Street Fighter II.
Joining Jari Kurri, Dominik Hasek and Doug Gilmour as the newest legends will be women’s hockey greats Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero, marking the first time female athletes have been playable characters in the NHL series. These five will join the nine legends from last year’s game.
“We selected Hayley Wickenheiser and Angela Ruggiero for their leadership qualities on the ice and within the community,” said EA Sports NHL General Manager Dean Richards. “Both athletes are champions who have been a positive force in driving women’s hockey forward, and creating further opportunities for young women in the United States and Canada to participate in the sport, either competitively or recreationally.” (via Puck Daddy)
Here’s a clip of the game in action.
Very cool. Eventually I’m going to have to skate by moving both sticks back and forth to simulate leg movements and throw my controller at the screen to shoot, but whatever, it looks great. Maybe next year we can work in a little Manon Rhéaume, because some of us were going through puberty when her cards came out and that makes her extremely important.
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No Cammy Granato? This is bullshit.
/only female player I know
Manon Rheaume or GTFO
This is a great step forward, but yeah, Cammi Granato and Manon Rheaume would have been my first two guesses….
And Ruggiero looks possessed in that animation
I think having the two female legends in the game is as much an attempt to pander to female gamers as inducting these two women into the Hockey Hall Of Fame was an attempt to win over female viewers.
I think that Wickenheiser and Ruggiero were genuinely talented female hockey players. They may well rank among the best female hockey players to have ever laced up the skates. But there are men in the Hockey Hall of Fame that I don’t even think belong there, so this isn’t necessarily a gender issue. Their accomplishments just don’t measure up.
As for playing them in the game, I honestly don’t see how that could possibly be realistic. Put them on the ice against any professional hockey player in a game with full contact and they’d be getting stretchered off midway through their first shift. I know the game has improved physics etc. so how would you have someone like Milan Lucic throw a shoulder into either of them and not have them explode into a red cloud?!
Hayley Wickenheiser played 2 years of pro hockey in Europe. IIRC it was a third tier pro team in Finland…but it was full contact pro hockey none the less. Not only is she the greatest female player ever, she’s tough as nails.
Surprisingly enough, women are just slightly smaller (on average) human beings, so when they get checked they take it like a smaller player might, not like a water balloon. Women can be extremely tough, and often are.
Dude, come on, Third Tier in Finland. Do you hear what you’re saying? You can’t use that as an argument to tell me that she’s tough enough to play in the NHL.
Look, I know she was a great female hockey player. I’m not suggesting otherwise. But I am saying that even the best female hockey player alive is simply not capable of cracking an NHL roster. There are presently 1500 or so players under NHL contract. And not one of them is a female. Think of it this way, if you were to rank those 1500 players from 1 – 1500 and imagine it as a massive fantasy draft, the 1500th guy…the last pick…is still a better pick than the best female player out there right now. That’s pretty much that discussion all wrapped up.
*And do not bring up Mannon Rheume. She was signed to an exhibition contract as a promotional stunt to sell tickets when Tampa was a brand new expansion team. She was signed specifically because she was hot. And she played, what, one period in one game in exhibition? Does not count.
It’s the discussion all wrapped up if you’re the kind of guy who likes to have this discussion, sure.
Sorry. I guess I should have just said, wow, they included women. It must be amazing to play as one of the top women ever. Sounds like fun times.
I agree that the best female player in the world would be the worst player in the NHL (by far) but if they want to add the option to appeal to female gamers then that’s cool.
I should note that I don’t really know anything about hockey (But I am starting to get into it). However, some minor internet sleuthing has allowed me to deduce that Angela Ruggiero had 3 inches and 12 pounds on Theo Fleury, and it doesn’t look like he ever exploded into chunks upon getting hit, so the ladies might be able to not die, were they ever to get hit for real by a NHL player.
As for the “lady gamer” comments, I’ll say that as a lady what occassionally games, I wouldn’t care about these ladies being in the game since I don’t know who they are, but the male legends evoke the same response (Except for Hasek, I’ve heard of that dude). Actually, wait, I wouldn’t get it even if I knew who the legends were since I usually don’t buy EA games. Go 2K!
@ Lobster Mobster
Plenty of guys who actually played in the NHL have been this-close-to-killed by body-checks. Finding a statistical exception (the diminutive size of Theo Fleury) doesn’t prove the point you’re trying to make.
I didn’t say she should be in the NHL…what I’m saying is she played full contact hockey at a pro level and didn’t “explode in to a red cloud” or get ‘stretchered off midway through her first shift”. She could, and would, play shifts against anyone in pro hockey without fear. Is she talented enough for the NHL? Clearly no. Is she tough enough/skilled enough to play there and not get killed or embarrassed…absolutely.
Holy fuck. I love how it’s alright for everyone else to use hyperbole but the moment I do it it’s “ZOMG they will not burst into a cloud of red mist!!!!!”
Playing Tier II hockey in Finland is one step up from shinny. Anyhow, the point I was making was in terms of the “realism” of the game. Look, in every EA game they assign players numerical stats for their strength, speed etc. etc. Are you going to tell me that the stats for Ruggiero and Wickenheiser are going to be on par with the NHL players in the game? Really? Come on. You know those fourth line dudes in-game that you hate to have on the ice because they’re slow as shit. That’s what Ruggiero and Wickenheiser’s stats should realistically be like. At best. It is, quite literally, a stats thing.
I love that the only hockey autograph card I ever pulled back before I knew anything about hockey turned out to be eventual Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour.
I played the first installation of legends mode at a friend’s house. I thought it was stupid. I was hoping it’d be a one off thing, but. I guess I was wrong. I won’t buy this game when this is still one of their prouder features.
That animation of Haley Wickenhesier is freaking terrible. And why isn’t she wearing her trademark full cage?
I’ll only buy this game is Dougie has his legs painted up in cow spots.
Julie Gaffney????