The only hockey game where you can get 50+ shots and 0 goals
Where do I begin? Lets start with the shots. I just got done playing against Calgary Flames and I had 56 shots on net in regulation. It was a back-up goalie and he stopped all 56 beautiful shots. On the other end, my goalie faced 11 shots and let in 5... EA is trying to make the games "realistic", but this is terrible. A goalie can't stop 30 shots going to the top right/ left corner per game. It's called a "Goal scorers goal" for a reason. Its rarely stopped in real life
Another thing is the over-use of the poke check. I swear, every 4 seconds the CPU will knock the puck off your stick just because of this. And the games always turn into a poke-check fight due to it.
Finally, the penalties. Every played a hockey game where you can get thrown in the box for something you can't control? Well, welcome to NHL 09... Every 5 minutes you're going to be taking a penalty for something like a Cross check, elbowing, and boarding when you're just trying to get the puck off the other players' stick. The right joystick hits, so when you push it, you never know whats going to happen. But even if you turn the penalties meter all the way down, you still end up taking 5-10 a game (5 min periods)