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EA has better graphics no doubt.

but the ESPN looks and acts more realistic. if that makes sence. (and it was 2004, actually just ESPN NHL Hockey was the name, but before that was Sega NHL 2k3)

its a realistic sim game with Sega/espn, EA does arcade style.
my main reason though, was the online is HORENDOUS for EA NHL, every idiot out there turns speed fully up. making end scores in the 20's. my last game i played on EA NHL 2004 ended at 23-20 ....... after that i said **** this, and went and got ESPN, been happy ever since, theres still people who turn up the speed on espn, but most are willing to play at a nice sim speed. hard as hell to find someone to play a decent setup game on EA.

IMO both hockey games should have set rules you cant change for ranked online games. i mean, WTF, you cant go into madden and crank up the speed when you play online, so why hockey?