Final eight players announced in EA Sports NHL 13 cover vote campaign

EA Sports' NHL 13 cover vote has now completed two rounds and the final eight players have been revealed as we make our way towards the announcement of the winner during the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on June 20.

Over the next week and a half there will be two voting periods involving two separate matchups. After over 16 millions votes, here are your final eight:

In Bracket A will be Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, along with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Voting for this bracket begins today and will run through May 17th.

Bracket B will feature John Tavares of the New York Islanders against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers vs. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators.

Voting for Bracket B starts on May 18th and will end on May 23th. The final four players will be announced on May 24th.

Some teams with players in the running have created their own campaigns to garner votes from fans. The Kings and Kopitar released a video last month, while the Islanders have pumped up Tavares' campaign by going old school with some promotional materials, referencing the great NBA Jam. Boom Shaka Laka!

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.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy