With the lockout still in full swing, hockey fans and casual hockey gamers are left to mine the depths of NHL 13 for the delicious marrow of hockey goodness. As always, there is plenty to do in the game, with tons of value in both the offline and online space. Since there is so much to do, let's take a look at what milestones you can accomplish in the next year, with an eye to achievements and trophies for the Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

No. 1 - EASHL

The trophies and achievements in the EASHL are pretty much focused around attrition. Most of them involve grinding out a string of wins or levelling up your online pro. Unlocking your legend card will definitely take some effort, as the 150 games required is a substantial task. The letter grades for team play are more lenient this year, so that helps, and you'll get a clearer indication of how close you are to the next grade.

The most attainable tasks are to unlock your rookie and pro cards, as the time commitment isn't that daunting. You'll very likely be able to unlock the “Fear No Man” achievement/trophy as well, since you just have to complete games without backing out. I even got disconnected from a couple of games (while my team still played) and still got credited with this milestone. Once it's playoff time, you'll very easily be able to unlock “EASHL Playoffs” achievement/trophy, as you just have to play one playoff game in any tier. Also, be sure to cycle the captaincy around this year, as there is an achievement for wearing the “C” and being named one of the three stars of the game.

Finally, for the goalies out there, there's a fairly attainable achievement in the form of a desperation save in an overtime game. This is much more likely to happen due to the lower scores across the board, which can get you to overtime, and the increased automation in desperation saves while controlling a netminder.

No. 2 - Be-A-Pro

For Be-A-Pro, most of the achievements and trophies continue to revolve around acquiring various awards and accolades throughout your career. Winning the Vezina trophy for goaltending is probably going to take a bit of effort, especially if you try and win it on a higher difficulty, but winning the Calder trophy and Memorial Cup is relatively easy, especially if you play on a lower difficulty or mess with the sliders of the AI.

Just the same, achieving success at the NHL level (playoffs, Stanley Cup, Art Ross trophy) is going to be a fairly big time-sink, but seasoned veterans will probably embrace the challenge. There are a few obscure achievements for scoring a goal while injured or hitting the post three times with your created pro, and those will ultimately come down to a degree of luck. One achievement that is easier this year is being traded to another team, particularly since you can now request a trade at any time.

No. 3 – HUT

Achievements and trophies in Hockey Ultimate Team range from fairly simple to agonizingly arduous, but there are some milestones that are worth checking out. You can grab the “Mad Scientist” achievement right away by having the game scramble your lines with the line assistant feature, and changing the captaincy or team association for your player can be done after you find those cards (with a little luck, hopefully only after a couple hours of play).

Collecting all the necessary parts for the “Complete Set” achievement (players, jerseys and logos for one team) is definitely going to take some serious dedication to the mode, and it'll take a certain degree of luck (or virtual currency) to make it happen. There's also an achievement/trophy for winning a HUT tournament, which should be attainable for those sinking reasonable time into the mode.

No. 4 – GM Connected / NHL Moments Live

The GM Connected mode, even with its hitches and delays in the menus, is a lot of fun, and there are some reachable goals to strive for. The most basic is starting up a GM Connected league with five human general managers. Another easy achievement comes from playing a GM Connected match with a human partner on your team. Winning the Stanley Cup or winning a league while using your “Build Your AI” file will take a bit of dedication from yourself and several others, but the online league is a great time-waster that can fill these months without the real NHL product.

For NHL Moments Live, the trophies and achievements come from completing moments of different types. These types include: playoffs, regular season, Be-A-Pro as well as team-based moments. Winning a moment on superstar difficulty is also rewarded, and this should be doable for most players, especially if you pick the right “moment.” While I don't think too highly of the mode itself, there are lots of moments to attempt.

No. 5 – Miscellaneous Milestones

Of course, there are plenty of random achievements and trophies to attain as well. One of the most basic is to compete in the Winter Classic with the teams set as the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. Scoring with your goalie pulled is also an achievement, so don't forget to learn the shortcut of using the left bumper and back button at the same time to pull the goalie on the fly.

With the new skating engine, you'll also be rewarded for scoring at full speed. It will be hard to control your dekes, but crashing the net at full speed should result in a goal sooner or later. Scoring on a sprawling goalie will also net you some trophy and achievement love, and this should happen reasonably quickly since the goalies this year are slippin' and slidin' all over the place. You can grab some more quick gamer points by changing your team's bias to “neutral zone” — easy money. Finally, try starting a rush from behind your net and going all the way to the other end for a goal in order to get the “Coast to Coast” achievement/trophy. This is made easier by the new skating engine.

Final Thoughts

There's lots to accomplish in NHL 13, and a reasonable number of the achievements and trophies can be attained with just an hour or two of play time. Some of the GM Connected and EASHL rewards are buried deep, requiring at least dozens of hours, but honestly, what else do hockey fans have to do right now?

No, the AHL or KHL don't cut it.