Only hockey game you'll need this season and its on a handheld.
The Controls are great for a handheld game, Everything from manual deking to different buttons for a wrist and slap shot have made it into the PSP version. All of which are simple to remember and even easier to perform. Graphics are what I would say lie somewhere between the Last PS1 NHL Game and the first PS2. For a 32 bit handheld, that aint bad. You are even able to tell players apart by just looking at the body size during play if you are familiar with your team. No more One Size fits all.
Load times are a bit on the longish side switching menus or starting up a game, but once in its pretty flawless. There's not much delay between the whistle and face off, what delay there is usually consists of a highlight from the game, which from what I can tell doesn't require any load time.
Commentary is the same as in past years, if you like it, great. If not, you can turn it off without suffering any consequence in the actual gameplay.
Features are the one thing I was worried about when first picking up the game, how on earth could they deliver the same content they do from the PS2 version onto the much smaller UMD. Somehow they do. Everything from the PS2 version is included on the PSP version. Multiplayer is one disappointment but its not from the game itself, The problem comes from Hockey not being popular so not too many players are online. AD-Hoc is something I've yet to experience as no one I know owns a PSP other than myself.
One of the great things about the game is your ability to swap save files from the PSP to PS2 via the USB port. That means if you no longer need to save the season right before a huge game to leave for work, thinking all day about the game. Instead Save the season and simply export it to the PSP and you can play the game whenever you get a chance.