NHL 08 is one of my most-played sports games of all time. At just 18 years old, I would visit friends’ houses and play against them or spend countless hours online against others. The soundtrack lives in my head rent-free, including tracks that eventually introduced me to my favorite band of all time, Paramore. In fact, I probably played more NHL 08 than every subsequent NHL game combined. But that’s more because of how I’ve strayed from the series and less to do with how much I loved NHL 08 way back then.

So when a chance to try out NHL 25 came my way, I had to say yes.