We have all come across the types of players and teams who will do anything to get a win in the EASHL. You know the ones, and shame on you if you are one of "them." Usually you can combat the teams using questionable tactics with good defense, but my team still tries to avoid these teams because defending against a certain shot all game is just not fun.

Recently I have noticed an uptick in the type of team that will play clean until it gets down on the scoreboard. Then, midway through the second period -- beginning of third at the latest -- out comes the bag of tricks. The teams who start playing fair, but then change their tactics once down a goal or two, perplex me? What are they trying to communicate with that kind of behavior?

"Oh, we're a clean team, but right now, we just need the ranking points more than our dignity."

For me, this is more difficult to cope with than the regular glitchers. When you play against a team who uses cheesy tactics from the beginning, at least you know what to expect from them -- nonstop cheese with the possible addition of a "mysterious" disconnection. But how do you deal with this other type of team?

When teams change their tactics mid-game, it is not always easy to change yours. In other words, a moment ago you had a one-goal lead, but now all of the sudden you are trailing by one. And at that point, it might be too late to adapt to the game-plan changes.

Are shady morals getting in the way of you enjoying a good game?

In the real NHL, coaches adapt to the opponent. They use a strategy to counter the opponent's strategy. If the opponent changes its style of play, you change yours. You mix your lines up and change the way you cycle them. Maybe you even take a timeout and calm your players down. The better the coach, the quicker he reacts to the events on the ice.

Basically, I wish there were more tools available to the clean teams out there. Something that you could deploy when you notice the bad habits of the opponent. At the moment, the only thing you can do is just keep playing your own game and hope that you beat the dirty team. Sure, you could use the same methods against the cheesers that they are using against you, but for my team, that is not an option -- it just hurts too much to even think about playing dirty.

Then again, perhaps the players on my team are not quite as good at "strategery" as we thought we were? Yes, we adapt to some small details, but I think it is time for us to bring some more basic Hockey 101 into our games. After all, in the real world, teams do not have to deal with the same things we have to on a game-to-game basis.

Maybe we need a game plan for straight teams and another for the dirty teams. Most of the time, I try to coach my team while we play, but it is quite difficult in the heat of things to find the right words. Sometimes I even wish we had a virtual coach to tell us what to do.

The upcoming NHL 11 might have a couple of things that might help us out as well. First of all, the new physics engine could reduce the number of animation-based glitches -- hopefully without bringing into play a new set of problems related to that same new engine. The second possible aid will be the new practice possibility for the EASHL. Of course we do not know yet how it is going to work, but it might make it easier to practice different strategies as well.

But until September, we are going to keep playing NHL 10 while tolerating the bad teams and loving the good ones. During that time, we will hopefully get better as a team while gearing up for NHL 11.


How do you guys deal with the frustration involved with playing against these shady characters? Any strategies you employ? Any controllers broken in the process?