Who is going to win the Stanley Cup this year? Will the San Jose Sharks take home their first Cup, or will Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins be the champions once again? There are a lot of ways to predict this. You could look at the advanced stats. You could watch a lot of game tape. Perhaps you could find some sort of predicting octopus to help you out. Or, if you are really on the ball, you could watch this sim of the Stanley Cup Final done in NHL ’94.
NHL ’94 is the game that really took the NHL series of games to the next level (although NHL ’96 remains the best of the bunch), so there is a lot of good feelings and nostalgia associated with the game. However, this is a modified version that has modern players in the game. So, you know, Pat Falloon fans may be disappointed.
You can watch the video to see how it plays out, but if you just want to know who ends up winning it all, well, get excited Sharks fans. Granted, it seems these sim games were done with five minute periods and no line changes, which isn’t terribly similar to the real NHL. It is, however, the quintessential way to play NHL ’94. One thing is for sure; in the game or in the real world, Joe Pavelski is awesome.