Ice hockey and video game ice hockey (from a Finnish perspective)
In the context of sports, Finland makes at least one notable exception (the other ones are Canada and, apparently, Latvia): ice hockey is the most popular sport when it comes to spectatorship and fandom, and, as a result, sponsorship. There are more registered amateur footballers than ice hockey players, but otherwise, especially at pro-level, ice hockey has no competitors as to success and popularity. A – if not the – reason is that Finland is one of the “big six” of hockey countries (the others being Canada, USA, Sweden, Czechia and Russia). In comparison, in football, the most popular sport in the world, Finland is currently ranked 69th, and the top national league does not compete in popularity with ice hockey.
Finland has won the World Championship in 1995, 2011, 2019 and 2022, and also the Olympic gold medal in 2022. Each championship has resulted in huge spontaneous public festivities across the country.
Ice hockey video games, above all the EA Sports NHL series, have also been very popular. The annual release of a new edition – currently NHL25 – continues to be among the best-selling games despite changing quite little; the most notable annual changes concern updated rosters for each team.
Since the early 2000s, the NHL games have included the Finnish and Swedish leagues (and subsequently many other European leagues and national teams). It was thrilling at the time: to get to play with my favourite team, TPS of Turku, Finland. More on the importance of the simulated real-life clubs and players below.
How I got into researching ice hockey video games
One obvious reason for being interested in both ice hockey and ice hockey video games is my background as a junior and, briefly, senior ice hockey player. I played for over ten years and am still playing recreational hockey. I love the game, and I know the game.
A second reason is that I started playing the EA Sports NHL games from, if I recall correctly, the second or third edition onwards, and played for several years. I cannot remember if I had played any older ice hockey video games before, and that, in fact, is my one point here: if I played older games, they were not good or interesting enough, since I cannot remember them.
I got hooked on NHL’94 (released in 1993) from the first game I played. In addition to amazing gameplay, the reason was that I could pick a virtual version of any NHL team, with a full roster of modelled individual, “actual” “real-life” players. I tried the Los Angeles Kings, with the “Great One”, Wayne Gretzky, with his Finnish sniper-wingman Jari Kurri. However, I chose the Quebec Nordiques (since 1995, the Colorado Avalanche), because Joe Sakic – a player I had never heard of before but made such an impression in the 1991 World Championships tournament – played in my hometown of Turku as a member of Team Canada.
Overall, the Nordiques were one of the worst teams in the league. Yet, I decided to stick with them. Maybe it was the hockey player in me, “we can beat these guys if we really want to”, that was my mentality. Or maybe it was the Finnish mentality of identifying with the underdog – could be a bit of both.
Beating your mate was the thing of course, but you also enjoyed seeing your team’s colours win – it was important.
Reasons for the popularity of NHL games
In studies on video sports games, researchers have found a number of reasons for their popularity. In short, these have been summarized as follows: knowledge application, identification with sport, fantasy, competition, entertainment, social interaction and diversion (Kim & Roos 2006; on identifying with the sport simulated in a game, see also Lankyung et al. 2023). All these are rather easily identified in ice hockey video gaming, too, but there is another one, one that is in my opinion the reason for the NHL games’ continued popularity – and my research data backs this up.
I am convinced that the fact that the games feature real-life teams, players (with highly “scouted” individual qualities such as speed, shot accuracy, agility, offensive/defensive-awareness etc.) is the key to the continuing success of the EA Sports’ NHL series. The concept has not changed at all in 30 years, though play modes have varied besides the standard single game – entire season modes, there are now others, too, but I have not tried them out. Of course, the same applies to EA FIFA and their other sport game series (on the history of these, see, for example, Holmi 2024).
In his master’s thesis, supervised by me, Iiro Sillanpää (2021) conducted a survey among active NHL-series gamers in Finland. While competitiveness and esports-oriented mentality were dominant, the same gamers also played with their mates with the objective of relaxation and as a social pastime activity. They also expressed nostalgia towards the earlier editions of the game, and had favourite players (both the real hockey players and their virtual counterparts made for the game).
Earlier, in the 1990s, a mate of mine always played with the Winnipeg Jets. The reason? First, he is related to Teemu Selänne, the high-scoring Finnish star (now a Hall-of-Famer) of the team back then. But he soon found other players he liked, because he would score a lot of goals with them; he would praise these players, only to find out that their real-life counterparts were lower-line grinders, not scorers. And that was exciting: to find the players to match one’s own instincts playing the game – playing “hockey”.
Shifting identification in the game
Here is a sample of narrated NHL gaming experience from a “retro” NHL94 tournament. I came across it while writing an article (2019) on the game.
The first period was rocky for me. I was having a hard time picking up Philly's big stars and wasn't playing good defense, which led to several breakdowns that resulted in goals for Insanolord. He used Eric Lindros to score the first two tallies, and Mark Recchi picked up a third with 13 seconds left in the period. (Lindemann 2010)
Just when things were looking grim, I gave Brian Leetch the puck off of the ensuing faceoff and marched right down the ice to get on the scoreboard with only 2 seconds remaining. It was a huge goal that made it 3-1 Flyers instead of 3-0, giving me something to build on for the start of the second. (Ibid.)
Italics, by me, highlight how the orientation and identification are in ever-shifting state when playing the game: first, I, the video gamer; second, the team (the Philadelphia Flyers); the opposing video gamer (Insanolord); then an avatar (Eric Lindros); and back to “me”. And so on, as long as the game continues.
The heading of this text is a reference to real ice hockey. In the sport, teams can change players on and off as much as they wish, and this rule applies when the game is on. This is referred to as “changing on the fly”. As demonstrated above, this is what happens to more-or-less dedicated players of ice hockey videogames: their orientation, identification is constantly changing during gameplay. This is the “getting hooked” experience I described myself feeling over 30 years ago.
The analysis of players’ narratives can be represented in a double dichotomy between real ice hockey and video game ice hockey, and gaming as activity and gaming as meaning-making. While in static research methods such as surveys and interviews players can be placed on the graphic above, real-time identification and meaning-making during playing a video game is much harder to document. It is clear that the player is occupied with the video game and gaming as an activity; the meaning-making and references to ice hockey as a sport can only be observed from verbal expressions.
During the Covid 19 lockout which naturally put the hockey league in Finland on a break, the league and the teleoperator Telia put together virtual playoffs to (unofficially) wrap up the aborted season. This was possible, because the NHL has included the Finnish league in the game since 2001.
Each club had an officially designated player to represent its virtual version, and the games were broadcast online. The success was not apparently great, and it can be asked just how seriously a fan of a club took the “e-playoffs”, or was even mildly interested. At the same time, the commitments by the clubs and the operator demonstrate just how important the video games have become in the wider business and culture of ice hockey in Finland. (Mähkä 2019; Mähkä 2020; Kerttula 2020.)
In my opinion, and I have not found any contradicting evidence – quite the contrary –, the lasting success of the EA Sports NHL series stems from the realisation by all relevant parties (EA, the NHL, and the NHL Players Association) that the potential of the video game hockey could grow exponentially if it resembled actual hockey as closely as possible for the gamer. However, most people following – watching – hockey have not played it. Hence, it is logical that the video game, by the standard visual perspective, actually resembles not playing hockey on ice, but watching it. (Mähkä 2019; see also Holmi 2024 for the syndication contexts.)
In conclusion, ice hockey video games, as analysed here, are well-balanced between “playing” ice hockey and playing video games designed for anyone to play. The ultimate effect is achieved by making it as true-to-life as possible. Is this my team, is this my favourite player?
Author bio and contact
Dr Rami Mähkä is a University Lecturer at Digital Culture, University of Turku, and the Vice-Leader of the Degree Programme in Digital Culture, Landscape and Cultural Heritage. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Media Culture at the University of Turku, with research interests ranging from film to video games, digitalization of Finnish society to social media. His specific research interests regarding games include ice hockey and other sport simulation games, and historical war games, especially of wars of the 20th century. A cultural historian by background, Mähkä’s other research topics include television, popular music and history culture and historical theory.
Contact: rarema@utu.fi
References
Holmi, J. (2024). Lajimurroksia ja ihmiskohtaloita: Nimihahmot urheilupelien tuotenimissä. Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja 2024, 26–45. https://pelitutkimus.journal.fi/article/view/142959
Kerttula, T. (2020). Puumailoista ylämummoon: Näkökulmia digitaalisten jääkiekkopelien tutkimukseen. Pelitutkimus.fi, 18.12.2020. https://www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja2020/puumailoista-ylamummoon-nakokulmia-digitaalisten-jaakiekkopelien-tutkimukseen
Kim, Y. & Roos, S. (2006). An exploration of motives in sport video gaming. International Journal of Sports marketing and Sponsorship, 8(1), 28–40. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-08-01-2006-B006
Kim, L., Tan, T. C. & Bairner, A. (2023). A Beautiful Game: Interpreting Football Videogame Experiences. Leisure Sciences, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2023.2170497
Lindemann, J. (2010). PAX East 2010 Reader Challenge: NHL ’94. Nintendo World Report, 3.4.2010. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/22839/pax-east-2010-reader-challenge-nhl-94. Accessed 8.12.2024.
Mähkä, R. (2019). Virtuaalinen kiekkojumala: Jeremy Roenick, NHL94 ja samaistuminen urheilupeleissä. Lähikuva, 3, 81–91. https://doi.org/10.23994/lk.87960
Mähkä, R. (2020). Digilätkän ja e-urheilun kevät. Turun Sanomat, 1.6.2020. https://www.ts.fi/puheenvuorot/4965945. Accessed 22.1.2025.
Sillanpää, I. (2021). ”Kaveriporukan sosiaalisen kanssakäymisen kulmakivi” – NHL-videopelit kerrottuina kokemuksina. MA Thesis, Digital Culture, University of Turku.