Wait, before you ask it, he already knows your first question. "No," says Sean Ramjagsingh, the producer of NHL 14, "you cannot make Gretzky's head bleed."

Monday, Jason Kidd gave the NBA his retirement notice. He and Grant Hill were the only active players this year that appeared in NBA Jam: Tournament Edition from 1994. Like veterans of a long-ago war, day by day we are losing the athletes of video gaming's cartridge era. These are the last of them.

Hyping the cover vote for NHL 14, the league reached back to that old 16-bit crowd-pleaser, NHL '94, to make this adorable video. It's appropriate because one of the finalists is the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur, the only active goalie whose NHL career is older than the video game.

Today, the four-time Stanley Cup champion and seven-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom retired. All of Lidstrom's 1,564 games were played for a single team, the Detroit Red Wings, and all but one of his 20 seasons were spent on EA Sports' NHL series, whose NHL '94 is one of the greatest console sports video…

Here's a re-creation of the classic scene from Swingers, in which digital Jeremy Roenick makes digital Wayne Gretzky's head bleed, this time starring Real Jeremy Roenick. Playing as Gretzky in NHL '94. In 2011. Now I think my head's gonna bleed.

Like Tecmo Bowl and RBI Baseball, NHL '94 is a sports video game that transcended its genre. Anyone who played a Genesis or Super Nintendo in the 1990s remembers its goal celebration - every player rushing the scorer, sticks raised.

Some video game sports moments are so indelible we remember and narrate them the same way we do the ones from real life.