While most sports developers tend to roll out patches that amount to little more than a type of "cosmetic surgery" that fixes bugs, glitches and other technical issues, EA Canada has taken its post-release support of NHL 09 beyond the status quo. The studio has put out a pair of patches that have addressed the game’s technical flaws and also addressed some of the serious gameplay flaws that had gradually brought the online community to complete ruin.

Persistence Pays Off

Like a lot of hockey fans, I feel like my relationship with NHL 09 is one that would have ended a long time ago had it, like Visual Concepts’ NHL 2K9, never received a patch.

While the first couple of cheese-free months with NHL 09 contained some of my best online experiences ever, once the cheese tactics started to spread throughout the community, the game became so frustrating to play that I had no choice but to end my relationship with the game.

I did not reconnect with NHL 09 again until a few days after the first patch. At this point, I noticed that the developers had made an effort to change the game into a better product. So, I had another strong two-month run with the game as I rediscovered how much fun it was to partake in a big, painful body check.

But then the rats began to claw their way back into the online community -- began to multiply, all of them with a never-ending hunger for cheese -- and once again my relationship with NHL 09 soured to the point that it simply became too unhealthy to continue.

Thinking that the developers of NHL 09 were simply too stubborn to call the exterminators and do something about the cheese tactics that had ended my relationship with their game on two separate occasions, I was shocked when NHL 09 called me up last week, claiming to have remodeled itself for the second time. (It probably would have called me sooner had I been playing on the PS3.)

Being a forgiving person, I not only accepted the game’s call but ended up spending the entire weekend with a title that has clearly recommitted itself to promoting a clean, quasi-realistic game of hockey.

While I cannot say for sure whether or not the rats will be back in a couple of months, I can say that their old entry points have been completely fumigated and nailed shut.

And to NHL 09's credit, pest control is a service that very few developers are willing to extend to their products after they ship -- given that it is so much more convenient for developers to leave their shipped products out there to rot while they move on to next year's remodeling job.

Extreme Scoring Makeover

Glitch goals have been a major issue in NHL 09 from the very beginning.

Before the first patch, there was the dreaded "drag shot." Essentially, players would enter the offensive zone skating near the boards, then drift towards the top of the circle while "dragging" the puck behind them, and then finally they would loft a softball shot against the grain to the top shelf. The A.I. goalies simply could not track this shot properly.

Thankfully, the "drag shot" was toned down (yet not entirely eliminated) in patch number one.

But cheesers, as they always do, scrambled to find a new money goal, which they found a few weeks later in the form of the "side goal" exploit. All that was required when attempting this technique was to skate right into the side of the net. Once players did this, the goalie would automatically go into a fish-out-of-water animation that left the goalie flopping on the ice while the offensive player could take his time picking between a dozen or so ways to slide the puck into the now-vacant net.

 Screenplay written by disgruntled Xbox Live defenseman, xXDemonDeke'nXx

Unlike the "drag shot," the "side goal" glitch is now completely extinct as of patch number two.

Even the cash-money "backwards shot," which involved skating towards the goalie in a backwards position to confuse the A.I., is dead and gone.

Essentially, cheesers, as of patch number two, are totally out of options if they want to score a goal that does not conform to normal hockey strategy.

Stay Clean or Stay in the Box

Penalties, or rather, the lack thereof, have also been a major contributor to online frustration in NHL 09 lobby games.

Because defenders online often have a mentality of "get the puck back at any cost," the level of defensive harassment that NHL 09 allowed prior to patch number two was, quite frankly, absurd.

Defenders could mash the stick-lift button all game long, hitting guys in the back, the ribs, the arm, the shoulder, etc., and rarely was a high sticking or slashing penalty called.

 Slash!? What slash!?

Not so after patch number two. Now, if you make contact with anything but the opponent's stick, there is a good chance that the whistle will blow and you will be sent to the penalty box.

Checking, too, was completely out of control in previous versions of NHL 09. Penalties such as charging and roughing were completely unheard of, and the interference penalty simply did not get called like it should have.

Because the interference rules were so lenient, defenders could lay out anyone anywhere on the ice, regardless of whether or not that player had the puck on his stick or was anywhere near the play.

With patch number two, defenders better make sure that they are either checking the puck carrier or defending the space directly in front of their goalie, otherwise, they are going to be sitting down for a two-minute minor just like they should.

Kiss Your Cheap Created Players Goodbye

About a month after the release of patch number one, cheesers somehow found a way to boost the stats of their created OTP (online team play) players up to superhuman levels.

As the technique for performing this glitch began to spread, the OTP community quickly became overrun with "juicers," and the once-amazing mode became a cesspool of cheat-to-win players.

Thankfully, patch number two is here to disinfect the waters so they are safe for swimmers of all skill levels and sizes.

Yes, sizes, which means that all those people out there with their 6-foot-9-inch 280-pound gorilla goalies can start asking management for a new uniform because the powers that be have scaled down the maximum height to a much more reasonable 6-foot-4-inches.

Get the Gang Back Together, It's NHL 09 Time!

NHL 09 won Operation Sports' 2008 Game of the Year Award for one simple reason: When the playing field’s level, its six-on-six online play is the most fun a sports fan can have with a gaming console and an Internet connection.

Not only is the competition level again, but the rules of the game have changed in such a way that NHL 09 now, more than ever, plays a true game of hockey -- minus the board play, of course. After all, they have got to have something to work on for NHL '10.

So, if you have previously given up on NHL 09 or have never been properly introduced to the game, there is no better time than the present to give NHL 09 a chance to capture a special place in your heart.

I know it has stolen mine.

XOXOX
Jayson Young