Jason Spezza plays centre for the Ottawa Senators. Last year, he made his first Stanley Cup appearance against the Anaheim Ducks. This year, he's the cover athlete for 2K Sports' NHL 2K8 game, which releases on September 11 for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Despite having an emergency root canal the night before, Spezza proved that hockey players are a tougher breed by talking to us on the phone about his involvement with the game.
Jason Spezza: Pretty neat, to be honest. You grow up, you play the games, then you see yourself in the game when you first come into the league. To be on the cover takes it to another level. It's pretty cool. I'm pretty proud of it.
EP: How does it compare to your achievements in hockey?
JS: It's completely different from some of the on-ice stuff, but it definitely means a lot. It shows the success I've had, and without that success I wouldn't have these opportunities.
EP: You mentioned a moment ago that you grew up playing the games. I take it you meant interactive hockey games?
JS: Yeah, yeah. Hockey videogames, hockey on the road, we played hockey pretty much everywhere we could.
EP: Are you a gamer now? Do you bring out the game consoles occasionally when you're not practising?
JS: Yeah, we get a chance to play a little bit at home. I used to live with Brian McGrattan and Ray Emery. We used to play quite a bit when the three of used to lived together. We still get a chance to play though, more than I guess people would think. We try to make time for it.
EP: You live the dream for us--we have to live vicariously through you because you actually play the real thing. Still, have you ever played a game like NHL 2K8 and realized something about hockey that you didn't know before, even as a pro hockey player?
JS: I don't know if there's anything I didn't realize, but I think the realism of the game is unbelievable, and it's hard to get around how realistic the game is compared to how it used to be, and how authentic the games are now. You look at the game, you see the guys that you play with. You can actually tell who they are, and that's probably something that we picked up on more than the average person.
EP: Speaking of that, how odd was it to pick up a gamepad and control a little version of yourself?
JS: It's pretty neat! It's something that I was anticipating a little bit. [My brother and I] played quite a bit when we were younger. You talk about maybe being in a game, and you create yourself as a player anyways, so you're always in the game! But to actually be in it was pretty neat. My first year in the league, I wasn't as good as I would have liked to have been [laughs] but I've gotten better and better throughout the years. So it's little more enjoyable now.
EP: Do you feel you have to live up to the interactive version of yourself now?
JS: No, I'd like to think the interactive version has to live up to myself! [laughs] But the interactive version is pretty good, so now that I'm on the cover I have to make sure I have a good year behind it.
EP: How much of the development of NHL 2K8 did you actually get to see?
JS: I came in at the late stages. The game was pretty much done. I think the guys that help contribute are usually for the year after they're cover athletes, so I think next year I'll probably have a little bit of input. I'm sure next year I'll get the developmental aspects going. [Note, Mike Rhinehart, Senior Marketing Manager with 2K Sports, confirmed Spezza would be involved with NHL 2K9.]
EP: When you did look at the game, what impressed you the most?
JS: When you look at the players you can really tell who they are, how authentic all the equipment everybody uses is. The authenticity of the game is definitely the thing that first catches your eye.
EP: On to some hockey-related things...real hockey, that is. How do you think Ottawa is going to do this year?
JS: We have pretty much the same team returning, so we expect to have a good season. We're looking forward to this year.
EP: Is this the year you bring home the cup?
JS: We [think] we have a good chance. By bringing back the same nucleus, we feel we can learn from our loss last year, and hopefully this will be our year.
EP: How good are you at NHL 2K8?
JS: Not bad. I think I have a pretty good understanding of the game, and it helps in the virtual game. I'm sure once I get a chance to play a little more I'll get better. If I'm going to play, I don't want to be bad at it.
We think Mr. Spezza may have been downplaying his abilities somewhat. Mike Rhinehart claimed Spezza "beat me pretty handedly," even though Rhinehart had played the game a lot.
Spezza will appear in a commercial that was filmed in the Toronto area for NHL 2K8, which will air September 10, the day before the game's launch. It also features Dallas Stars goalie Marty Turco, who was the consultant on goalie AI. Mike Rhinehart describes it as a "pretty hot spot."