Blazers in EA Sports NHL ’11
If Kamloops Blazers’ head coach Guy Charron notices a significant drop in some of his players’ shot velocity, he may be inclined to call the folks at EA Sports.
Sore fingers and thumbs might be the problem.
The Burnaby-based video game developer released NHL 11 on Tuesday, Sept. 7, and, for the first time in the franchise’s 20-year history, teams and players from the Canadian Hockey League (Western, Ontario and Quebec major-junior leagues) are included in the game.
Forwards Brendan Ranford and Chase Schaber were among the Blazers who settled in for some serious gaming on Tuesday afternoon.
After grumbling and complaining about player-skill ratings — Schaber earned a 64-out-of-100 rating, Ranford a 66 — the two Alberta products took to the virtual ice.
The choice of teams for their first battle was obvious: The Kamloops Blazers versus . . . the Kamloops Blazers.
As the teams (one donning home jerseys, the other sporting road uniforms) shuffled through the tunnel and onto the ice at Interior Savings Centre, any bones to pick with game developers pertaining to skill ratings went out the door.
“This is awesome,” said Ranford, a fan of the EA Sports hockey franchise for as long as he can remember.
And, like Ranford, it didn’t take long for Schaber to have his first I-can’t-believe-I’m-in-a-video-game moment.
“Oh my God, my line is out there,” he said early in the first period.
Their video-game characters seemed to never leave the ice — Ranford and Schaber ensured they were fixtures on the top regular-strength and power-play units — but the pre-game line juggling didn’t produce any first-period goals.
During the first intermission, Schaber received a text message from fellow Red Deer product Mitch Topping, a defenceman with the Chilliwack Bruins, who had purchased a copy of the game the same day.
“Hey, Topping is trading for us on the game,” Schaber said in relaying the message to Ranford.
The two Blazers shared a brief laugh, but their game faces returned in time for the second period.
And it didn’t take long for high drama to ensue.
Ranford looked to have notched the game’s first goal while controlling Blazer centreman Colin Smith, but the referee waved the marker off.
“That’s a bad call,” Ranford yelled upon learning Smith was ruled to have handled the puck in the crease.
But Ranford’s angst turned to joy when the referees upstairs overturned the call: 1-0 Ranford.
The 18-year-old left winger, who is set to attend the Philadelphia Flyers’ training camp next week, almost doubled his lead while in control of Schaber’s NHL 11 character.
“I’d be pissed off if you scored with me before I scored with me,” Schaber said.
The 6-foot, 195-pound centreman had a golden chance to equalize late in the third period while controlling his own character on a penalty shot, but Schaber couldn’t tally, and Ranford won the game.
“I should’ve been rated at least a 67 or 68,” Schaber joked.
A lopsided 7-0 victory over Ranford in a rematch enabled Schaber to turn his Xbox off with his pride still intact.
He talked about the experience after the game.
“For them [EA Sports] to come out with the CHL is unbelievable,” said Schaber, who will attend the Edmonton Oilers’ training camp next week.
“It could be a chain reaction. It will probably make kids want to work harder so they can get to the CHL so they can be on this game.”
Ranford, who had recovered from the 7-0 shellacking, said playing with his own character in a video game was nothing short of surreal.
“I thought I’d have to get to the NHL one day just to be on a game,” he said.
“It’s pretty amazing. It’s unreal. It’s like a childhood dream.”
