Rewarding trash play with stupid momentum system

[circlesaroundyou]

Momentum should be built by controlling the puck and causing the other team to get tired. Instead energy hardly affects play while cheap players are rewarded for forcing a faceoff that they didn't earn when they should have been forced to dump the puck and change lines at the end of their long shift in their own end.

Fixing this one thing would completely change the way this game plays and it would make it something like hockey as opposed to this complete nonsense that I'm forced to put up with now.  It's a simple and obvious fix that would force the game to play like THE GAME OF HOCKEY

Who cares if some people don't understand line changes? They will learn. 

[EA_Aljo · Accepted solution]

Momentum was a feature in the last generation of the game, but NHL 15 (on current consoles) and beyond do not have the momentum system. There has never been any catch-up logic either. AI teams will play harder when they are down. They'll take more chances and this can lead to scoring, but there's nothing built into the game to force one team to catch up. Many people don't recognize what's happening and don't play defensively enough. If you chase the AI and go for the hits or try to cause a turnover, it's going to leave open lanes they will take advantage of. The best way to play against AI teams when this happens, for example, late in the 3rd when they're down by a goal, is to try to clog the slot and block their shots.

[CombatEX]

I mean, I'm not gonna assume your play time or what you actually do with the game here but this so called "momentum" builds up by alot more than what you just pointed out here. No point in actually listing everything that factors in it but to your credit, it's a very stupid and useless catch up mechanic (just like what Mario kart has) where skill should be the main and probably even the only factor in a win or loss. The bigger issue in my opinion is that EA has, to this day, never made that list public or released as an official mechanic. If I remember correctly, the "momentum" mechanic probably dates back to something  like NHL 2008-2010. It was even denied being present by some devs when asked about it on the forums. The fact that we don't have an actual listing of what ever drives momentum is beyond me. After all these years though, the community has a pretty good idea what makes it tick and it's alot more than just forcing faceoffs.

Again. To reiterate, this is very-very - very dumb when the whole point to a sport is competing with each other by putting our skills and hockey iq sense to the test. You can keep the participation ribbons  and medals to the battlefield community. 

[EA_Aljo · Accepted solution]

Momentum was a feature in the last generation of the game, but NHL 15 (on current consoles) and beyond do not have the momentum system. There has never been any catch-up logic either. AI teams will play harder when they are down. They'll take more chances and this can lead to scoring, but there's nothing built into the game to force one team to catch up. Many people don't recognize what's happening and don't play defensively enough. If you chase the AI and go for the hits or try to cause a turnover, it's going to leave open lanes they will take advantage of. The best way to play against AI teams when this happens, for example, late in the 3rd when they're down by a goal, is to try to clog the slot and block their shots.

[EA_Aljo]

@circlesaroundyou 

There is no momentum system. Other than the rate at which players are moving. Energy does make a difference though. As energy goes down and their bars turn to yellow and red, their stats drop. You'll have the best chances at your players taking advantage of their attributes by managing their energy. One of the best ways to do this is to cover the puck. Most like to pass it back out, but that's going to tire out your players more as well as cause line changes to happen more often when you don't expect them.