Puck Junk

A few years ago, a few forum members talked about an unreleased hockey video game called Road to the Cup Hockey '94. This inspired me to seek out two of the game's programmers and find out what could have been: http://puckjunk.com/2019/03/28/road-to-the-cup-hockey-94-an-unreleased-hockey-video-game/ The game was being developed by Park Place Productions, who handled development of NHL Hockey and NHLPA Hockey '93, and was even intended to look and feel like the "NHL" game series. Anyway, I hope you find this article about "NHL '94's long-lost cousin" interesting and informative. Sal

Yep, that was me. You should have said "hi"

But if you look closely, that isn't Gretzky's face on the box cover. The artist changed the likeness so it did not resemble Gretzky.

A lot of illustrators, artists and painters use photos for reference. Also, a lot of sports video games (and even hockey video games) based its cover artwork on reference photos.

Hey hockey video game fans, Before there was NHL '94, there was Blades of Steel. I always loved the artwork on the cover of the box, so I tracked down the artist (who coincidentally lives in my hometown) and interviewed him. Believe it or not, he even got in a bit of trouble for his Blades of Steel illustration. http://puckjunk.com/2019/02/06/interview-tom-dubois-blades-of-steel-box-cover-artist/ Anyway, please check it out. Hopefully, you enjoy it. Sal

Late last month, I was a guest on Ron Barr's radio show, Sports Byline USA. We talked about his involvement with the early EA Sports games, particularly NHL '94. We also discussed a certain website dedicated to said video game http://puckjunk.com/2019/01/03/sports-byline-usa-the-nhl-94-video-game-sports-trading-cards/

I just published an interview with Michael J. Sokyrka, who did much of the music for NHL '94. You can see it here: http://puckjunk.com/2018/12/21/interview-michael-j-sokyrka-nhl-94-music-composer/ Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the help, guys.

Thanks. Looks like it definitely was a bug in the Genesis version. I have the SNES version, but never played enough games to get potentially get to 128 points. And I'm not going to try anytime soon, either.

I heard that in NHL '95, if you played full season mode and your team got to 128 points in the standings that it would roll back to 0 points, putting your team last. Is that true, and if so, on what versions of the game?

We all know that there was no fighting in NHL '94, but when did fighting come back into the EA NHL games? Was it with '95, or '96? (The manual for for NHL '95 for SNES does not have instructions on how to fight, but the manual for NHL "96 for SNES does.) I'm curious to know when fighting "came back" on both SNES and Genesis. Thank you!

Was "Road to the Cup Hockey '94" ever mentioned in any magazines back in 1993?

Hi again everyone. As I mentioned before, Beckett Hockey magazine cut my "sidebar" conversation with you all in my NHL '94 article. First off, here is a PDF of the article. It is old enough now that my editor doesn't mind if I circulate it: http://www.saljbarry.com/articles/roenick.pdf Second, I ended up using my "sidebar" conversation with the kind NHL '94 forum members who spoke with me. I published it on my website, Puck Junk. However, I removed everyone's last name. You can read that article here: http://puckjunk.com/2013/12/19/fondest-memories-nhl-94/ Again, I want to give my gratitude for those who took the time to speak with me. Sal

Here is my update on the Beckett article. It is bad news, unfortunately. For my NHL '94 article, I was actually able to conduct an interview with Jeremy Roenick. My conversation with him was about video games, espeically NHL '94. That became the focus of my article, becase it is not every day that I get to talk with an NHL legend. Thus, I also wrote a sidebar (a short companion article) to accompany my interview with Roenick. This is where I used my conversations with everyone who replied to my initial request. \But the sidebar had to be cut due to space limitations. This is the first time in 10 articles that I've had something cut. I'm really sorry about this. I am going to write a few more pieces about NHL '94 (one for my blog, one for another sports site). I will contact everyone indivdually and make sure it is OK that I use my conversations with each of you for this new article, since it will not be printed in Beckett, but elsewhere. Sal

So, who should I thank for updating the Wikipedia article?

October 1993 was when the NES version was released.

Oh man, I am having problems viewing the 2nd and 4th images. Any chance you could email those to me: sjb AT puckjunk DOT com

Awesome. I'll have to see if I can track down some old EGM magazines, or maybe an issue of Sega Visions from that time.

FTW!!!

My belief is that the SNES and Genesis version were released around the same time in the Fall.

Last month, I went to the Chicago Blackhawks Convention and got my copy of "NHL Hockey" (the version of "NHL '94" for PC) autographed by Steve Konroyd. He is currently a studio analyst for the Blackahwks, and was on the Hartford Whalers when the photo on the box was taken. As you can see, he was pretty happy to see the game that he was pictured on, and wanted to talk about it. Konroyd told me that he was on the game cover for two years in a row, but I believe he might be thinking of the Windows version of the game, which used the same photo as the DOS version of the game. Maybe one day I'll get Patrick Kane to sign a copy of "NHL '10" and Toews to sign a copy of "NHL '11". Has anyone else ever gotten a video game autographed by a player? Sal

Plus, a March 1993 release date for NHL '94 would have been way too close to the release date for NHLPA '93. Sports game sequels, then and now, are spaced out a year apart.

Exactly!!!

True, they did not remove the claimed players. For example, Stu Grimson is on rosters for the Ducks and the Blackhawks, while John Vanbeisbrouck is on the rosters for the Panthers and the Rangers. But I don't buy that explanation. There is no way EA would have "guessed" so many players, and on what teams. I mean, if the Ducks picked first in the expansion draft, they would have taken Vanbeisbrouck. Thus, I still don't believe that NHL '94 for Genesis was released on March 15, 1993.

According to Wikipedia, NHL '94 was released for the Sega Genesis on March 15, 1993. A lot of other websites also cite this as NHL '94's release date. However, I don't think this can be true. The Genesis version of NHL '94 has the Panthers and Ducks -- and the expansion draft took place on June 24, 1993. So, how can a game that came out in March have rosters that reflect the June expansion draft? Sal