Reverse Shot

The Reverse Shot is a high percentage shot when you are right in front of the goalie. Getting a shot right in front of the goal is great, but if the goalie is in position it can be hard to get your shot around him. First I want to look at the mechanics of shooting. Its pretty basic in that if your player is right handed and the puck is to your right, then you shoot a forehand. If the puck is to the left, then a backhand. To set up this shot, you have to approach from the side of the goal. Lets say you are coming in from the left side of the goal. As you are approaching the goalie, deke the puck out to the right. Hold the deke, and push back on the left stick. Youll notice while your holding a deke, you can use the left stick to rotate your player around, so by pressing back on the stick, you turn your player in a clockwise manner. The objective here is to take a backhand shot, and to do that you need the puck to be on the left side of you in respect to the goalie. When you rotate your player enough so that the puck is to the left of your body, then take the shot. The goalie will be out of position, and the backhand shot will go in. Confused? Watch the video.

Online Lobbies

When playing online I dont recommend playing the quick versus match. You will get matched up with someone who is out of your skill level or has a bad connection. Instead, go to xbox live> community>lobbies>skill level, and sort by connection quality. You can browse through and check people's records, so find someone who is a suitable match and then click on their name and send them an invite. You will get a much better quality game and it will be more fun for you. You can even play ranked matches this way.

New Xbox 360 Patch!

I have to say Im a big fan of the new patch. There are a lot more penalties called, like interference calls and checking from behind. This really changes the game, and I think its for the better. It feels much more realistic and it keeps everyone playing honest, and nobody will get away with playing dirty. If youre chasing a puck, and someone hits you before you reach it, interference will be called almost every time. There are going to be a lot of penalties called at first until people get used to the new rules. I like to compare it to offside. When I first started playing I would get offsides called all the time until I got used to it, now its just a natural part of the game. Use the patch to your advantage! Try to draw penalties by skating a little slower and closer to your opponent when chasing a puck. Its so tempting for the other player to check you, and then your onto a power play. There will be many more 5 on 3 situations now, so try to be on the team with 5 players.

Wrap Around Goals

Skating around the back of the net and wristing a shot at goal is not a wrap around goal. Some of you may not realize it, but there is a specific "wrap around" animation that is triggered if you shoot at a specific time. When skating behind the goal, if you shoot when your player is coming around behind the post, your player will automatically go into an animation where he stretches out and tries to wrap the puck right inside the post. Your success is determined by when you time your shot, your angle coming around the back of the goal, and the goalies position. A lot of times, the goalie will stuff your shot, and the puck will get trapped between the goalie and the post. If you poke check at it and get your stick right in between the post and the goalie before the whistle is blown, you can push the puck in for a goal. In the videos I show a successful backhand wrap around goal, and a few stuffed attempts.

Crash the Net

There are 3 different full strength offensive strategies: Overload, Crash the Net and Behind the Net. Ill start with Crash the Net and show you how to use this strategy very effectively.

The next four plays are based on one simply principle. Drawing a double team and opening up the slot. The idea is to bring a wingman down the side and "collect" a couple of defensemen and draw them up to the point. If youre successful in drawing the double team, then pass it to the point, and skate towards the center. You'll have a lot of scoring options in front of you. Ill start with the easiest.

Option 1: Drive the pointman to the goal.
Since you have successfully opened the slot, if you can maneuver your pointman past a couple of poke checks and get him to the goal before the defense realizes its mistake, you have a great opportunity to score. Do a One-Two Deke right in front of the goalie and youre one goal richer.



Option 2: Give and Go
Do the exact same thing, but instead of driving to the goal you are going to pass to your wingman who should be breaking towards the goal. This is the great thing about Crash the Net, your wingman will drive towards the goal after he passes to the point. This doesnt happen in the other strategies. Slip a pass through the double team, and your wingman is on a breakaway with a wide open slot. You'll be coming in at an angle to the goal, so it is going to be more difficult to score so be smart and watch the goalie for an opening.




Option 3: Give and Go One Timer
Same setup as last time. Give and go to the wing, but once the wingman gets close to the goal, the center defensman is going to move in to help. This will leave your other wingman open for a one timer. You may have more success with this than Option 2 because it leaves the goalie out of position.



Option 4: Around the World
This is my favorite. Once your wingman passes to the point, instead of the give and go, cycle it around your offense. The wingman is still going to cut towards the middle, so pass it from the opposite wingman right in front of the goal. The goalie will flop, and you will have all the time you need to flip it in the goal. This is a great play, but it is the most difficult to pull off. You have to count on your team to not drop a pass, which can be difficult when the defense constantly checks your men in the slot. This will be an awe inspiring goal when it happens.

Spin-o-Rama

A goal setup with a spin-o-rama is the ultimate highlight reel move. To perfect the spin-o-rama, you have to know when to use it and which way to spin. First practice getting the spin-o-rama move down, so you can pull it off at will. Hold down Vision Control and move the right stick straight left or right, then a half circle away from the direction you are skating. Now that you have it down, the next step is figuring out when to use it. Lets say you are skating up the right side. Keep the defender on the inside and push the right stick left, so the puck is out in front of the defender, taunting him to poke check at it. Anticipate his poke check, and then do the half circle away. Do this move while you are cutting toward the goal slightly, so that when you do spin around the defender, you are setup right in front of the goalie and not heading towards the boards. Finish with a quick deke and shot for an awesome goal to finish your highlight reel. (Hopefully your's goes in, unlike in my video - I should have deked to the backhand shot)

Winning Face-Offs

Winning face-off's means more time on offense, which means more shots on goal, and eventually more goals in the end. Timing is everything on face-offs. When playing online, there is always going to be a little lag involved, and knowing this will give you the edge. In a lag free game (like playing against the computer), the correct time to strike is when the puck hits the ice like in real hockey. In a game with lag (playing online), the correct time to strike is when the referee lifts his arm. There is really no warning and the time before he lifts his arm is a little different for each faceoff, so you have to be ready. By strike, I mean pull the right stick back towards one of your teammates behind you. I usually chose to pass back to the teammate farthest from the boards because you have more options that way. You can either skate or pass it up the center, are pass it back to the boards and skate up the sides.

The One -Two Deke

So you just connected that long pass and youre on a breakaway. Its just you and the goalie, and the defense is nipping at your heels. You have a few seconds to make a decision. What you need is a reliable, easy move that will get you that goal. The first breakaway goal move that proved to be successful for me was what I call the One-Two Deke. Technically its pretty easy, the hard part is in the timing. The stick movement is straight left, straight right, (or straight right, straight left if you prefer) then quarter circle up to shoot. The timing is going to take practice. Do this right infront of the goalie and you have a pretty high percentage goal shot. Too early and you wont fool the goalie. Too late and your shooting past the goal. Practice this in Practice Mode 1 on 0 until you get this down. This will be a good go to move when you get that breakaway opportunity.

Aiming

Aiming is probably the hardest thing to get used to, so it takes the most practice to get it down fluidly. The trick to aiming is to aim soft. The aiming is sensitive, where if you aim the left stick all the way left, your shot will go way left missing the goal completely and hitting the glass behind it. So if "all the way left" is 100%, then go about 75-80% left to get a shot that will stay inside the goal. Thats the tricky part. When your skating towards the goal, your left stick is controlling your movement and your left stick should be at 100%, but when your ready to shoot, pull back to 75-80% and you should see your shots hitting the goal more. The other factor is your players offensive skill score. If your shooting with Ovechkin with a 94 in offense, then your shots are going to be more accurate, and you may not need aim as softly.

Timing a One-Timer

How frustrating is it to whiff a perfectly setup one-timer that would have given you the lead and won you the game? I cant tell you how many times this happen to me and I would slam the controller in frustration. There are two things that can make you miss a one-timer; a bad pass and a late swing. You cant do anything against a bad pass to a one-timer. EA put in bad passes as a way to make the games more interesting and add a little randomness to the mix. Sometimes when making a pass it will just be off target and your player will just whiff it; nothing really you could have done differently. It may be based on your players skill level or whatever; it just happens so let it slide. But what about when your player just stands there without swinging and freezes like an idiot and lets the puck cross right in front of him? This time you can do something about it. The problem was you hit up on the right stick too late. As soon as you pass it, hold the right stick up. It should almost feel like one motion. Pass then immediately hold up on the shoot stick. This doesnt mean you have to aim at the same time you shoot. Aiming registers when your player hits the puck, so you have a second longer to aim your shot.
Be sure to read the post on aiming so that your shots dont end up hitting the glass behind the goal.