I'm terrible at NHL 12. Help?

I got NHL 12 as a gift about a week ago, and I've been playing it nonstop.

I love the look and feel of the game, and it's SO much fun.

I'm a huge hockey fan.

Now, my problem is, I figured since it was my very first hockey game, I'd just play on Rookie until I got the hang of everything.

I played on rookie, and each game I'd end up winning like 10-2, 11-1, and one game I won 14-3.

That's ridiculous. It was kinda fun beating the crap out of some teams I hate, but it wasn't realistic at all and posed no challenge to me.

So I obviously moved up to Pro difficulty. WHERE I SUCK SO HARD.

The leap from Rookie to Pro is ridiculous! I miss passes, I'm lucky to score a goal through 2 periods, I can't do anything, I've lost 3 straight games to the CPU.

I don't get it! I take a lot of shots, some great opportunities, some prayers, but I play good defense and protect the puck and I always end up losing.

Anyone have some kind of tips?!

I score most of my goals in the top corners of the net. I think this years game is harder than previous years. I went from NHL10 to NHL12 and I could win all the time in 10 but my season is 5-9-0 right now. Coming back from being 1-7-0. Once you get passing and deaking down good its easier. I have had less than half of my games end with less than 6 total goals, played an 8-6 game last nite. My prob is I always get my Defense guys outta position and give the other team a perfect opportunity.