National Hockey Night was my first and it´s an ok game, and better than any ´til ESPN NHL 2k5 which I think is the best.
but at least G4/tech TV gets Luc Robitaille on their fantasy hockey show while he´s locked out by the Kings.

Considering I don't play many hockey games actually I've only played two. But the best freakn Hockey game has to be Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey '98 for the good ol' N64. The fighting was the best fighting I've seen in a hockey game with combos, uppercuts, and left and right hooks. I've developed a fetish over Instant Replays, and Wayne Gretzky's took my 'instant replay cherry' away from me. Not to mention the violent checks which sent guys into back flips. To bad someone stole that game from me

Can´t make a comparison there.Haven´t anything but the PS2 to make a comparison(since the days of Pong on the Atari). If Wayne put his seal on the game it must be a good one. Like to try it sometime.

Clearly the best hockey game of all time is NHL '94 for the Sega Genesis. I've probably played over 100 hours on that sucker. Well over 100 games against friends, as well. When my friends and I think of the biggest upsets in sports history, we often harken back to the days when my Pittsburgh Penguins lost a 3-0 series lead to the Ottawa Senators (controlled by my friend Tony), 20 minute periods, penalties on, goalies on, line changes off. That was truly a soul crusher.