I always preferred the lower-level hockey to the NHL. More brutal, more raw, more old-time hockey. I’ll take the IHL Ice Dogs to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks any day. Latter couldn’t risk even a scratch on their pretty-boy multi-millionaires like Selanne and Kariya. This was the 1990s and old time hockey had already gone a decade ago. Players wore helmets and dirty plays meant the box or more. But the IHL still featured brawls each night and refs who shrugged their shoulders more than blew their whistles.
But then the IHL folded, the Dogs disappeared, and no more old time hockey.
So, thank the gods of ice for V7 Entertainment’s Old Time Hockey!
Makes me grit my teeth just thinking about it.
The first ten seconds of the Announcement Trailer shows us all we need to know. Small arenas, rowdy fans and scruffy helmet-less thugs with skates swinging lethal weapons called hockey sticks.
You know what happens next without having to see it, but the trailer shows us anyway. Melee and all-out brawls, sometimes involving the entire team. Blood and gloating and all the testosterone-fueled antics this side of Donald Trump. Still a doubting Thomas? Looks at them scars! They real.
Old Time Hockey Video Game
Still have no clue what it’s all about? Here’s all you need to know, from the game’s site:
Experience hockey the way it was meant to be played in this old school arcade style hockey game where blood on the ice is just another day at the rink. 70s afros, big moustaches, no helmets, dirty hits, bench-clearing brawls, goalie fights, stick fights, ref abuse and locker room language – that’s Old Time Hockey. Players in this league live by one simple rule – Never look at the puck, just take the body. Timely hits are crucial in this dangerous sport where getting on fire is the difference between winning and losing.
Yep, it’s Old Time Hockey. Love it.
It’s out early 2017 to PS4, Xbox One and Steam.
