NHL 13 Cover Vote Advances to Second Round, 32 Players Remain

April 12, 2012 – EA SPORTS™ announced today the 32 NHL players who have been selected to take part in the next round of the EA SPORTS NHL®13 Cover Vote sponsored by BlackBerry®. The second round of the cover vote campaign, which begins today and ends April 22, shifts to a 32-player leaderboard format where the top 16 vote-getters advance to a 16-player bracket. The winner of the cover vote campaign will be unveiled as the EA SPORTS NHL® 13 Cover Athlete at the 2012 NHL Awards™ on June 20 at the Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas. Vote here!

This announcement follows the first round of competition, which featured 60 NHL players and pitted teammate against teammate contending to represent their team. The top vote-getter for each team plus two-wild card players advanced to round two. The first ever cover vote campaign for the EA SPORTS NHL® franchise has been embraced by both NHL fans and NHL players with 10 million votes cast thus far, and NHL players utilizing social media platforms to promote themselves and their teammates.

NHL 13 Cover Athlete Voting Schedule:

• 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

Among the 32 winners advancing to the next round in the campaign are NHL regular-season points-leader Evgeni Malkin, 60-goal scorer and NHL®12 Cover Athlete Steven Stamkos, and 2011 Hart Trophy winner Corey Perry.

Sponsored by BlackBerry® and hosted on NHL.com, the campaign gives fans the opportunity to select the face of the EA SPORTS NHL® franchise. 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.