The only NHL game I've ever played is 04 (which I hear dedicated fans often call one of, if not the best, NHL games to date, so it was by pure luck that I picked that one up, but I digress), and if I recall correctly there was a sprint-like button you held to get a temporary speed boost.

I've been playing the hell out of the NHL 12 demo (will hopefully pick up the full game tomorrow), and I'm not sure how exactly to use the hustle button. I thought it was weird when I saw it mapped to L3, and I tried holding and clicking it and nothing seems to happen. I see that these games have been massively upgraded in terms of realism since 04, so I'm assuming the effect is more subtle, but it really doesn't seem like it does much.

You press it and the player pushes the puck ahead and skates faster. It just might give you a step on the D or help on a near breakaway but other than that its useless.

you can click it up to three times to get your player to skate harder, at a penalty to puck control and turning.

@DevWil said:

you can click it up to three times to get your player to skate harder, at a penalty to puck control and turning.

As well as fatigue. If you play online you'll notice that your player has a lot less speed, agility and acceleration at the end of a period if you jam the L3 button all game long. You can also press L2 which pushes the puck ahead letting you move a little bit faster. Not many people use it because it's quite easy to get the puck stripped from you that way.

@Towers: Oh ok yeah I didn't even know there was a hustle button then haha, I thought he was talking about L2. Crazy, don't know how I missed that, good thing you asked Hobbies!

@Vinnylegs: No worries man. I'm kinda a big deal. :P

Been playing online since 09.

Hustle. Get Paid.

@Towers: Haha so have I. No idea how I didn't know about it. My friends must not know either haha.

Thanks, everyone! I actually had no idea about the L2 button thing.

ahhh, I always wondered what button it was ahah thx