Looking to give new fire to a game that may be getting repetitive, or waiting for that roster update before you start the season? Well, why not have some friends over and play a little NHL 08? You may just be surprised how much fun you can have.

Sometime in the early summer I got a call from one of my longtime best friends -- it was a weird call, being that I got it at work. I quickly got down to business with him and asked him what was up. He was like “oh, you didn’t hear?” And indeed I had not. 

Seems my buddy, who is pretty much made of steel I am convinced, was out biking and got hit by a car at an intersection. He didn’t realize it was only a 3-way stop and thought he had the right away; the lady in the car coming through the intersection had other ideas. Long story short, car versus human on a bicycle, well you know how that one tends to turn out.

My friend is the most athletic person I am good friends with, and I am friends with a good many athletes. He is about 6 feet 2 inches and weighs probably 220 pounds. He played junior hockey in Canada, and is just naturally gifted at all sports -- not to say he doesn’t work his behind off though. 

The accident left him with a completely destroyed right shoulder; he finally had his surgery the last week of September. His rotator cuff was shredded, and it took 4 hours under the knife to repair. Other than that, miraculously, he was unscathed. He has recently started rehab and hopes to be playing pick up hoops in January. 

Now I tell you all of this for one reason. It is truly something special when an athlete picks up a video game, one that is in their field of expertise especially, and appreciates that game because it in his words "real hockey!" For as good as he is in real life at hockey, I am better at the game than he is. But it doesn’t take very long for him to pick up the skills and keep games close, and finally beat me occasionally.

If you have noticed my online ranking dropping recently in NHL don’t be alarmed. I have been picking up my friend on my days off from work and bringing him over to play NHL. Just as we had done a few years back when we were in college together -- it's probably the reason why I never graduated, as we used to skip class all day for NHL fests. 

Sometimes another one of our friends joins us, the one that I play my franchise with on the side when we hang out together after work. The three of us are like brothers (so much so that one was my fake ID when I was 20), and none of us had brothers, so you can imagine. We are ultra competitive and quick witted, ready to rip the other to shreds for making a dumb play or being selfish, not to mention saying something stupid.

See the best therapy my friend can have right now is mental. He has been confined to his house for the last few months, and is in a sling that completely immobilizes his right arm. So it is of little concern to me that we destroy my online rep along the way. 

One thing that is astonishing to me though, is how much teamwork is required to play with multiple players online or off-line. You must really communicate, and be on the same page, or your play suffers. When we lose we get real quiet, and it tends to have an effect on the rest of our days at times. When we win, the jokes are flowing and laughs fill the room.

I have had the honor of playing hockey with my two friends in the non-cyber world. It is so weird how we mimic what our roles are in real life. Only difference is, I have to step up and be the leader since I somehow have the most talent in the video game world. That is for sure a role that takes some time for me to adjust to at times, as I am usually the mucker and grinder for sure on the real ice.  

I also find that the way my buddy calls for the puck in real life carries over to video games, with a quick "yup, yup," you know he is open. He was coached at a young age that it is the quickest simplest way to let your teammates know you are open. Something that is actually in the game already -- if you turn off the announcing you will surely hear it, that along with someone saying "wheel, wheel" about 3000 times per game.

The best part usually is when we do something pretty on the ice. We look at each other with a look of "wow" on our faces. We realize how much work it can be at times to look good, even on an Xbox. It is great playing with a semi-pro athlete even, one who knows the x’s and o’s of the game better than most. 

It is nice not having to explain things about the game to people, and it is better that you can play it as a true sim if you prefer. The only thing I find myself really reminding him is that you have to flick the right stick in the direction of the net to shoot (if you see a breakaway online with no shot at the end, you will know it wasn’t me shooting). 

The worst part is when we are losing and we all try to be "the man." We end up bunching up, and everyone is in a hurry to click the guy closest to the action. Also, we end up one timing every pass in the offensive zone, resulting in some ugly hockey.

Still, with my two friends both getting married to their long time girls next fall, and myself getting older, I will relish these days with them. I look forward to a time when we are all healthy again, and can get together and compete on real fields and rinks, but until then this ain’t so bad.

So if you have the chance, try and get together with a few friends once in a while and ruin your online rank; you will probably be glad you did. Remember, be patient, pick a role on the ice, and do your job. Good bounces don’t always come your way, but when they do....