Winner To Be Unveiled At The 2012 NHL Awards On June 20

Sponsored By BlackBerry And Hosted On NHL.com, Fans Cast More Than 23 Million Fan Votes To Date in the First Ever EA SPORTS NHL Cover Athlete Campaign

May 29, 2012 – EA SPORTS™ and NHL.com announced today that Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux and Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne have been selected by the fans as the two finalists in the EA SPORTS NHL®13 Cover Vote sponsored by BlackBerry®.Giroux and Rinne narrowly beat out Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin and New York Islanders forward John Tavares, respectively, in the tightest round of competition yet. Fans have cast more than 23 million votes on NHL.com thus far in the campaign, including nearly four million votes in the semifinal round.

Beginning today until June 4 at 11:59pm ET, fans can vote an unlimited number of times at http://www.nhl.com/covervote for their choice for the EA SPORTS NHL® 13 Cover Athlete. The winner will be unveiled at the 2012 NHL Awards™ on June 20 at the Wynn Las Vegas. The 2012 NHL Awards will be televised at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network in the U.S and on CBC in Canada.

The NHL® 13 Cover Vote campaign, gives fans the opportunity to select the face of the EA SPORTS NHL® franchise. Fans can create awareness for the campaign and their favorite player by using #NHL13Cover on TwitterTM.

The first ever cover vote campaign for the EA SPORTS NHL® franchise has been embraced by NHL fans, teams and players who have utilized social media platforms to campaign. Recent outstanding examples of team and player engagement include:

· When You Don't Vote for #71 - Penguins' "Vote for Geno" campaign
· Johnny's Barber Shop - Get Strong for John - Islanders Mikael Grabner campaigns for John Tavares
· Get Strong for John - Islanders Mikael Grabner campaigns for John Tavares

NHL® 13 Delivers Major Innovations that will Change the Way You Play the Game

EA SPORTS NHL® 13 promises the biggest change to the franchise since the introduction of the Skill Stick in NHL® 07. Headlined by all-new True Performance Skating, and supported by an innovative new A.I. system dubbed EA SPORTS Hockey I.Q., NHL® 13 will deliver a revamped gameplay experience that accurately captures the speed, creativity and strategy of NHL hockey.

‘Every Stride Matters’, the latest trailer for NHL® 13 can be viewed here.

http://youtu.be/za3aasWrdcg
View the others here:
http://youtu.be/ajIWqp-1MgM
http://youtu.be/JzSJ-oOLeGw
http://youtu.be/EwF3doS1En0

In addition, NHL® 13 will also deliver new experiences that connect hockey fans to their friends and the real world of hockey with the all-new GM Connected and NHL Moments Live modes. NHL® 13 will be available on September 11, 2012 in North America and September 14, 2012 in Europe.

NHL® 13 is in development at EA Canada in Vancouver and has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI; visit www.esrb.org and www.pegi.info for more information. Become a fan of EA SPORTS NHL® on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/easportsnhl and follow us on Twitter via http://www.twitter.com/easportsnhl.

For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game communities, please visit www.easports.com to connect, share and compete.
EA SPORTS is one of the leading sports entertainment brands in the world, with top-selling videogame franchises, award-winning interactive technology, fan programs and cross-platform digital experiences. EA SPORTS creates connected experiences that ignite the emotion of sports through industry-leading sports videogames, including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL® hockey, NBA LIVE basketball, NCAA® Football, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® golf, SSXTM, and Fight Night boxing. For more information about EA SPORTS, including news, video, blogs, forums and game apps, please visit www.easports.com.

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NHL® 13 is an Officially Licensed Product of the NHL and the NHLPA. NHLPA, National Hockey League Players' Association and the NHLPA logo are trademarks of the NHLPA. © NHLPA.

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© NHL 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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