During the annual NHL Awards on Wednesday in Las Vegas, EA Sports will reveal the cover boy for NHL 12. And if it doesn’t go to goalie Tim Thomas of the Stanley Cup-winning Bruins, then EA Sports deserves a five-minute major, says Jeff Blair of The Toronto Globe and Mail.
If it isn’t Tim Thomas, then these people are lunatics – although it’s tough to argue with people who send out a press release trumpeting that they’re “reigniting the beloved fighting engine that first appeared in NHL 10 with all-new goalie battles. When the action gets heated, send a message by leaving the net, dropping the gloves, and trading punches with rivals during fights.”
There isn’t a more inane pastime in sports than hockey goalies who participate in bench-clearing brawls, as these two players never have any on-ice interaction and have no reason to be violent towards each other. Still, it’s good to see EA Sports is presenting this stupid aspect to a great sport. It’d be disingenuous to exclude it from a video game.