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Just tried it on '94. It took 4 (10 minute) periods to hit it.

I just tried it right now on NHLPA '93 (I didn't get a chance to try it on '94). I just used to default teams (Pittsburgh vs Chicago) and 10 minute periods. I spent a period figuring out my best chances of hitting the "sweet spot." I was having good luck with Lemieux. Right side, before the blue line, right of the faceoff spot. I reset and started again. Boom. Second period trying and nailed it. Maybe it was luck. Tried again while restarting after every first period. 5th period, again. 7th period I hit it a third time before calling it quits just now.

Fantastic job. I noticed Mark Lesser has what looks to be the original cover for NHL '94 on his wall. Electronic Arts used the same cover template for all their games. EA Sports was releasing all their new sports titles around the same time in '93. I assume they decided that the licensed sport games needed a different look so they went with the white covers. It looks like EA had these template covers ready to go before they decided to make the change. Bill Walsh College Football was another game released around the same time as NHL '94. Early ads in an August '93 Electronics Boutique catalog show the old cover that was ultimately switched for the White cover. It was never released with the old template. That same catalog shows what is probably the very first version of the NHL '94 all white cover before they dropped the "hockey" from the title.

Sorry if this is common knowledge. I tried searching but the only answers I could find were the same school yard theories from nearly 30 years ago. It seems a lot of people have their own strategy for breaking the glass, whether it's using Al Macinnis or letting one rip from the blue line. The truth is a whole lot simpler than that. I found an interview with NHL '93 programmer Jim Simmons from Inside EA Sports (Volume 2 Issue 1, 1993). In it they ask what's the secret to breaking the glass. "I've built a small sweet spot into the glass panel directly behind the right half of the goal - it's only three pixels wide by five pixels tall. That's about the size of the puck. You have to hit that sweet spot right on, extremely hard. Using a player that has a really hard slapshot helps, but luck is usually the strongest determining factor in getting it to shatter." I look up whatever videos are available of breaking the glass in NHL '93/94 and sure enough, it's always in the same spot. Shot speed is not a factor, but it helps increase your odds of firing a wild puck at the "sweet spot". The spot is roughly in between the feet of one of the fans. Anytime you hit it, the glass will break regardless.