Assuming all of the NHL servers are named this way there is likely a static number of them

With stuff like this you're talking about public endpoints. For example I have a Couchbase cluster I maintain at work. People find it by a DNS record to an IP that directs to one of the clustered servers depending on load, but that IP is not specific to just any of them. With something like this you have one IP that routes to several servers.

You could be right or you could be wrong, but it's not enough info to make that statement.

Also naming conventions shouldn't be limited server numbers. Like why would nhl0001.ea.com indicate to you that they could spin up more?

There are geo-location databases (db-ip is one) on the internet, but they are not always 100% accurate. I used those and did some traceroute commands to see if it verified what the database said.

neat. Thanks for adding that.