Ice hockey is not as popular as football but draws a fanatic following in Canada and the United States. Ice hockey themed video slots bring all the excitement of the sport on the reels. This article reviews three such games from different online casino software providers.

The Microgaming ice hockey themed slot machine is titled Break Away. The high paying symbols are the players and the referee. The low paying symbols include hockey rink, mask, skates and ice maker. The win animations are simply awesome. Break away is a 243 ways to win. The symbols in winning combinations freeze and break away. They are replaced by new symbols. If new winning combinations appear on the reels then you get paid again and the process repeats itself. The Break Away logo is the wild symbol, which can appear in stacks on reels 3, 4 and 5. In the novel Smashing Wild feature, two ice hockey players crash into each other turning one of the middle three reels into wild for that spin. The flaming puck scatter symbol triggers the free spins bonus. You are awarded up to 25 free spins with the trade mark Microgaming Rolling Reels feature.

Ice Hockey is the name of the video slot from Playtech. You choose two teams before you start the game. The players of one team pay left to right and the players of the other team pay right to left. There are three different players in each team and they pay out in either like or in mixed combinations. The wild symbol is the goal and it awards the largest line payout. The Ice Hockey logo is a scatter symbol. 12 free spins are awarded when the flag of the same team appears simultaneously on reels 1 and 5. You have players only from that team during the free spins. The ice hockey puck is the bonus symbol, which triggers an intricate but interesting feature.

Hockey Hero is a release from Realtime Gaming. The player is the wild symbol and doubles payouts. The penalty box triggers an innovative free spins round. A clock symbol gets added to the reel set ever three spins. If the reels display two clocks then the free spins end prematurely. Hockey Hero has the Realtime Gaming Win Win feature. If you fare badly in the free spins you receive a compensatory payout. The other thematic symbols are rhino mask, goalkeeper, referee, trophy, puck, skates, peanuts and beer. The video slot has the customary two tier randomly triggered progressive jackpot.