When I talked about it with my other sports-loving friends, I claimed it wouldn't happen; that it technically probably couldn't happen. I didn't know how anyone could make me love--or even like--manual goalie controls in hockey games. Every year, I buy a new hockey game, fiddle with the manual controls for a few seconds and then--after a few games of utter frustration--switch the controls back to auto and hope for the best from my virtual Cujo or Brodeur. I always thought a first person goalie system (ala the first person football of NFL 2K5) was a stupid idea, if only because it would mean you'd miss out on so much more of the action on the ice (and that it would be pracitcally impossible stop pucks in the process).

　　But last week I played a preview build of NHL 2K6 for Xbox 360--the primary new control feature of which is "crease control", a manual goalie system that--dare I say it?--actually works. The behind-the-goalie's-back viewpoint is just far enough back to let you keep track of practically every offensive player in your zone, while still giving you a sense of immediacy and drama to minding the net. As I say in the preview, my only beef with the new controls are that it might make you reluctant to play your defensemen much but, honestly, I didn't get enough of a look to find out if that was the case or not--a problem I aim to rectify as soon as possible. After all, playing between the pipes is probably one of the coolest and most difficult positions in all of sports. It's about time someone gave the goalie his due.