NHL 2K9

It is by far easier to get this in your first game!!! I cannot stress that enough!!! And yes this achievement is still obtainable after servers closed!!! The good news is hardly any one plays this, the bad new the AI likes to screw things up. Grab a boosting partner who either A) already has this achievement or B) has a dummy account. Here's a list of things that will help in grading system. (listed in what I think is least helpful to most helpful)

1) Winning Face offs (as Center)
2) Good Pass
3) Big Hits
4) Assist
5) Goals
6) Short Handed Goals/Assist

Negatives include

1) Loosing Face offs
2) Intercepted Passes
3) Goals against (why both players shouldn't try in the same game)
4) Penalties (unconfirmed)

Now here's the easy trick. While player 1 has the puck players 2 holds LT+RT+Back which pulls the goalie giving easy Empty Net Goals/Assist to player 1 (Thanks to New Era Yaz67 for posting this on x360a). Since its a 5 on 6 goal it seems to boost up your grade faster than a regular goal. You can easily have an A+ ranking by the middle of the 2nd period and then hold the puck til game ends. If you do manage to fall bellow A+ simply score another goal.


Unfortunately the more games with bad Grades you played the more A+ games you will need to get average up, but this can be done in as many as 1 game to newcomers. Ironically the Achievement seems to unlock when your Team Skill Grade is at an overall B+ or better (both Neudog and I finished with this rating when it unlocked).

P.S. If the achievement does not unlock at the end of the game, exit out and start a new team play game. Achievement should pop as long as you have a B+ to A+ rating during the lobby (can check by pressing start while waiting for new game.)

I got it with only winning face-offs, some hits, some shots on goal, and assists. At the end of each period, I had the following rankings:

Period 1 - C+ rank
Period 2 - B- rank
Period 3 - A rank

However it didn't unlock. :( For some, it will unlock if you view your Player Card. If not, exit to the dashboard and reload the game. Then go back and view your Player Card. That's when it unlocked for me. Woohoo!

Try and tie the game to go into OT if you don't have at least an A- by the end of the 3rd period. I've heard an A- will allow it to unlock as well.

Finally after some time trying to figure this one out I finally did lol. Go to the Xbox live menu. Then choose ranked team-up. Your performance on the ice gets you a better grade. IE: Big hits, winning face offs, scoring, shots on goal and assists. Try to get a solid A. It will unlock after the game is done. This can be done in 1 team-up game. I can confirm this because my 1st team up game i won and had a A rating and it unlocked.