The off-season can feel long if you’re used to watching hockey every week. But once the matches wrap up, fans usually find other ways to stay connected to the sport. Some keep up with NHL news or rewatch old matches. Others turn on a game for a while.
Hockey games have been part of the fan experience for years, and there are quite a few ways to play them now. There are management sims, arcade-style titles, and even a few slot games built around hockey themes. If you’re looking for something hockey-related to pass the time until the next puck drop, a mix of these games might do the job.
Break Away Deluxe
Break Away Deluxe expands the original Microgaming slot with a bigger layout and more paylines. The reels run on a 5×5 grid and include 88 paylines, so there’s a lot happening once the spins start.
The visuals stick to the hockey theme. Players, referees and ice rinks appear as symbols, and the game includes a few mechanics that keep the reels moving. Rolling Reels remove winning symbols and replace them with new ones, which can create additional wins in the same spin. There’s also a feature where hockey player symbols randomly turn into wilds.
Hockey Hero
Hockey Hero, developed by Push Gaming, uses a 5×4 grid and focuses on a few core mechanics rather than filling the screen with too many extras.
Wild symbols appear stacked on the reels and free spins can trigger during play. The most interesting feature is the Power Play mini-game. When the puck symbol lands, the game switches to a shootout scenario where the player tries to beat the goalie. Each successful shot adds prizes or multipliers to the result. It’s a short feature, but it breaks up the usual spinning. For quite a while now, this themed online slot game has been an all time favourite with hockey fans who enjoy a slot that focuses entirely on the sport.
Jagr’s Super Slot
Few hockey-themed slots pay tribute to the sport quite like Jagr’s Super Slot, inspired by Czech legend Jaromir Jagr, who also serves as a Wild symbol.
The game offers 4,069 ways to win and plenty of hockey symbols including helmets, skates, trophies, and Jagr’s famous number 68. Scatter symbols trigger the Super Slot Bonus, where players shoot pucks at targets to win multipliers, cash prizes, or free spins.
Blades of Steel
Blades of Steel goes much further back, but it still holds a place in hockey gaming history. The game was released in 1987 on Nintendo and quickly built a following among hockey fans.
It didn’t use real teams or players, but that didn’t stop people from enjoying it. The gameplay focused on fast action and fights on the ice. For many players, it felt different from other sports games available then. A lot of modern hockey games have moved further with graphics, but Blades of Steel helped lay some of the groundwork for what came later.
Eastside Hockey Manager
Eastside Hockey Manager doesn’t focus on controlling players during matches. Instead, the attention is on running an entire club or national team. Transfers, tactics, training and scouting all become part of the job. It’s a slower experience compared to arcade hockey games, but some fans prefer that level of detail.
The game is considered one of the best hockey management simulations available. For fans who enjoy the strategic side of the sport, it can nicely fill up time during the off-season.
NHL Hitz
NHL Hitz took a very different approach to the sport. Instead of going for realism, it went with arcade-style gameplay. Matches moved quickly and big hits were a big part of the experience. The more physical the game became, the more rewards players could unlock. Some features even allowed players to power up their characters.
It wasn’t the most accurate hockey simulation, but that wasn’t really the point. The fast pace and action made it memorable for a lot of fans who grew up playing it.
Puck
Puck is a physics-based hockey game that focuses on control. Players move, pass and shoot without scripted mechanics. Because of that, matches can feel unpredictable. A well-timed pass or a small mistake can quickly change the outcome.
It’s also built with multiplayer play in mind. Friends can join matches together or compete against other players online. That’s usually where the game becomes the most entertaining.
Final Thoughts
Hockey fans have always found ways to stay connected to the sport between seasons. Gaming just happens to be one of the easier options. Some fans prefer managing teams and building strategies. Others just want something quick and casual with a hockey theme. Either way, there are plenty of games that help keep the sport alive while waiting for the next season to start.