Friendly games

A friendly is a game between two clubs outside the league schedule. Little rides on the result: it counts toward neither the standings nor player or team stats.

Friendlies

Friendlies are played in the preseason, and during the playoffs by two clubs that are both out of them. A club plays at most one game a day.

On the ice a friendly is a full game, and a player can get hurt in it like in any other. It is also a game day for your whole roster: no one gets the day’s rest, so a tired player recovers less than he would on a day off. What happens after the final horn is what sets it apart.

What a friendly counts for

Every skater who takes a shift gains confidence, win or lose. The lift does not depend on how he plays, and his minutes cost him none of it. Goalies get no such lift; a friendly leaves their confidence where it was. See player form and happiness.

A friendly also counts in a few other places:

• Experience. Players learn from a friendly, but less than from a game that counts. See training and development.
• His own form. How a player plays in a friendly counts toward whether he is happy with his own form, as any game does. See player form and happiness.
• Familiarity. Lines and pairs that play together build familiarity, but the level moves only once the regular season is under way. See lineup chemistry.
• Your reputation and record. A friendly win adds to your manager reputation, and a wide margin adds more, though less than in a game that counts; a loss costs nothing, and the game goes into your career record on your manager card. See manager career.

It adds nothing to player or team stats or to the standings. It earns players no reputation, and the three stars bring neither reputation nor a lift in confidence. It does not move team confidence either; see team spirit and focus.

On your team page, the Next game card shows Friendly where a league game shows the opponent’s place in the table. Before the season starts, the Last game card shows the latest friendly you played. When you watch a friendly, it is labeled Preseason.

Worth knowing

• A friendly day is not a rest day: no one on your roster gets the day’s rest, so a tired player recovers less than he would on a day off.
• The lift in confidence is for skaters only. A goalie’s confidence stays where it was, though he still learns from the game.
• A friendly can injure a player like any other game.
• Nothing from a friendly reaches player or team stats, the standings, player reputation or team confidence.
• A friendly played after your season is over still matters next season: the confidence a player ends the season with decides where he starts the next one, and the friendly can lift it.