I was playing with altos up in the slider thread ... but i was struggling to be competitive, let alone win. It's bee a few years since i've played hockey (been gong mad with fifa), so i'm having to re learn playing. I'll wait until i improve before i touch the sliders, but i'm already getting a head full ideas about what i'll change.
the biggest thing will be working out the thresholds of how many clicks you need before you see the sliders taking effect.
I've gone back to pro default (but kept alto's penalty sliders, otherwise you see none), full sim sliders, and am having a ball. The CPU does a great job (without feeling cheesey) in taking your go to moves away.
i'm playing like real hockey. lots of dump ins, lots of taking the pass away rather then just crunching them with a check. the CPU is dumping it in, they're cycling the puck, they're crashing the net.
seems to be as much fun as it is strategic, which has always been the balance EA hasn't had much idea about.