The EA Sports NHL 13 cover tournament has dwindled from a list of 60 NHL players to 32 to now the Sweet 16. After over 13 million votes between the two rounds, here are the matchups for the Round of 16:
Cool that some matchups tie-in with the current NHL playoffs with the Anze Kopitar/David Perron pairing and potentially Scott Hartnell versus Tyler Seguin depending on how the first round finishes up in the Eastern Conference. And, of course, voting kicks off a day before Henrik Lundqvist and Erik Karlsson battle in a Game 7.
Since he has a few days before he begins play in Round 2, we hope Hartnell is hard at work on more campaign material:
Beginning today and ending May 2, fans can vote for the Bracket A (left side) matchups. From May 3 to May 10 voting will be opened for the Bracket B (right side) pairings. The quarterfinalists will be announced on May 11, semifinalists on May 24 and final round voting will begin May 29.
Voting will take place at NHL.com/CoverVote and fans can do so an unlimited number of times. A Twitter hashtag, #NHL13Cover, will also track the cover athlete tournament discussion. Updates and other content will also show up on the EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page.
Taking a look at the bracket, who do you see getting through to the final?
Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy