Yes, you can listen to your music while playing - when I did it the game's sound effects were just overlaid - but it wasn't distracting at all. I assume you can turn the sound effects off. I didn't try though.
The game play is pretty fun and the controls work. Like I said, I think it is better then Hockey Nations.
The only gripe I have with it is that the rosters and jersey numbers are a little funky.
It looks like the rosters are as of last year, and I swore they had a few jersey numbers mixed up.
I saw on a different forum that 2k plans to offer plenty of updates to keep the game fresh.
I love it . . . and at 2 bucks, it is a steal.