Yesterday Electronic Arts announced that fans around the world have the opportunity to shape the face of the made in Vancouver EA SPORTS NHL franchise, by participating in the first ever EA SPORTS NHL Cover Vote Campaign. The voting process will consist of two preliminary rounds, followed by a 16-player bracket as a field of 60 NHL players is narrowed down to one. The winning player will be unveiled as the EA SPORTS NHL 13 Cover Athlete at the 2012 NHL Awards June 20th in Las Vegas.
The first round of competition pits teammate against teammate and started yesterday and runs until April 11. Fans can vote for their favorite player to represent their team in the next round. So that pretty much means the Sedins can’t grace the cover together. Remember this Vancouver Canucks variant NHL 12 cover from last year with Burrows leading the pack? Would be cool if they did that again.
NHL 13 Cover Athlete Voting Schedule:
- March 29 – April 11: Round of 60: one representative from each team plus two wild card selections advance*
- April 12 – April 22: 32-Player Leaderboard: fans vote for their favorite 16 candidates; top 16 vote-getters advance
- April 24 – June 4: Round of 16: single-elimination playoff bracket decides NHL 13 cover athlete
Fans worldwide are able to vote an unlimited number of times and are encouraged to vote as often as possible at NHL.com/CoverVote to ensure their favorite player advances through the rounds. Fans can also show their support by tweeting their picks using #NHL13Cover on Twitter. Visit the EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page for insider updates and additional content.
The complete list of matchups can be found below:
| Eastern Conference | ||||||
| Bruins | Tuukka Rask vs. Tyler Seguin | Lightning | Steven Stamkos vs. Victor Hedman | |||
| Canadiens | P.K. Subban vs. Tomas Plekanec | Maple Leafs | Phil Kessel vs. Tyler Bozak | |||
| Capitals | John Carlson vs. Brooks Laich | Panthers | Stephen Weiss vs. Tomas Fleischmann | |||
| Devils | Ilya Kovalchuk vs. Adam Larsson | Penguins | Evgeni Malkin vs. Marc-Andre Fleury | |||
| Flyers | Claude Giroux vs. Scott Hartnell | Rangers | Henrik Lundqvist vs. Brad Richards | |||
| Hurricanes | Eric Staal vs. Jeff Skinner | Sabres | Derek Roy vs. Thomas Vanek | |||
| Islanders | John Tavares vs. Michael Grabner | Senators | Erik Karlsson vs. Jason Spezza | |||
| Jets | Evander Kane vs. Andrew Ladd | |||||
| Western Conference | |||||||
| Avalanche | Matt Duchene vs. Gabriel Landeskog | Kings | Anze Kopitar vs. Drew Doughty | ||||
| Blackhawks | Patrick Sharp vs. Duncan Keith | Oilers | Jordan Eberle vs. Taylor Hall | ||||
| Blue Jackets | R.J. Umberger vs. Ryan Johansen | Predators | David Legwand vs. Pekka Rinne | ||||
| Blues | T.J. Oshie vs. David Perron | Red Wings | Pavel Datsyuk vs. Jimmy Howard | ||||
| Canucks | Henrik Sedin vs. Alex Burrows | Sharks | Logan Couture vs. Brent Burns | ||||
| Coyotes | Shane Doan vs. Keith Yandle | Stars | Loui Eriksson vs. Jamie Benn | ||||
| Ducks | Corey Perry vs. Jonas Hiller | Wild | Mikko Koivu vs. Niklas Backstrom | ||||
| Flames | Mikael Backlund vs. Matt Stajan | ||||||
NHL 13 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver.