There is less than a month to go until NHL 11 is unleashed upon us like a storm of video game goodness, soaking us in new physics and leaving us breathless in its wake.

EA has dropped hints and facts of new game modes and improvements to the old ones, but there is no news yet on the game mode that has rocked my world and a lot of other people's as well: the EASHL.

The EASHL is a wonderful online game mode, but as always, there is room for improvement. Fortunately, people playing in the EASHL are very vocal on forums all over the Internet, and it seems like developers are out there reading our rants and wish lists.

So let's have a look at the top three most wanted improvements for the EASHL, and whether any details have been released about them.

EASHL Practice Mode (Confirmed, no details yet)

Let's face it, it gets quite boring when you're waiting for your team members to show up. You know there's not enough time to go and play a random game of OTP, but sitting in a game room doing nothing is something most of us would like to replace with something more meaningful.

There's also the simple fact that it would be nice to actually practice with your team. After all, unless you have 12 people or more in your club, it is difficult to practice certain scenarios within a game in a non-competitive way.

With the practice mode in place, hopefully we can practice power-play formations, odd-man rushes, forechecking and just basic team tactics in different scenarios.

This practice environment would also be an ideal place to test out different player types and witness how different boosts affect your player. Personally, I want to repeatedly check the left winger on my team because of his annoying dangling skills -- I just want to see how far that little punk will fly.

Goalies would benefit from practice mode as well. Practicing against breakaways, cross creases, one-timers or just warming up before the games start would help immensely.

I can't wait to get more info on this part of the game because I am obsessed with player types and stats. I will be spending many, many hours messing around with my Be a Pro character. I just hope that a single player can access this feature alone.

Leagues and Matchmaking (No details yet)

The EASHL is split into two leagues, Pro and Casual, yet at the moment there are no differences between the two leagues. They both have the same settings and same minimum players required. In theory, the league you choose is an expression of how serious you are about the EASHL. In reality, there are Casual teams who play just as seriously as Pro teams.

And the strangest thing is that it is a common occurrence for teams from different leagues to end up playing against each other in random games. So one can even wonder why there are separate leagues in the first place.

In the refined and improved league system that is surely just around the corner, gamers are pushing for a Pro league where AI is not involved. In other words, the games would be exclusively six-on-six.

For the Casual league where the AI might be involved, an equal teams matchmaking system is a top-three wish -- two-on-two, three-on-three, four-on-four etc. This way games would be more fair. At the moment, it's not uncommon for a five-man squad to be matched against a team of two players. Sometimes it takes a long time to find a game, so when you finally find a game, it would be nice if it was actually a balanced one -- same number of players, same region and same league.

One acceptable option for the leagues might be that your club can participate in both leagues at the same time. If you play a six-on-six game, it would register in the Pro league rankings, while all the other games would count as Casual games.

Tracking and Flagging (DNF percentage confirmed)

People would like to know whom they are playing against -- teams and players alike. At the moment, there is no way to know if you're playing a top-10 team or just a bunch of casual gamers. While you're picking positions, it would be nice to see the opposing team's record and ranking, as well as the individual did not finish (DNF) percentages for the players you're facing.

There should also be a mechanic to report teams that glitch or play in a manner that is unsportsmanlike. It would be nice if EA would follow-up reports on teams that don't play fair, but even a system where you could give the teams a plus-minus flag would be a nice start.

Even a thumbs up/thumbs down system would be good enough for me. Thumbs up for a team you had fun playing against, thumbs down for a team that abuses game mechanics or plays in a way not suited for the EASHL.

Anything that would be an indicator of how the team plays would be a welcome addition.


What made you crazy this year while playing EASHL? What is on your EASHL wish list?