Women’s Hockey Player Will Be On Cover Of EA Sports ‘NHL 23’ For First Time

This year’s edition of EA Sports’ “NHL” series will make history, with not only with two cover athletes, but with female representation as well.

EA Sports announced Wednesday Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras and Team Canada forward Sarah Nurse will be on the cover of “NHL 23.” Nurse is an Olympic gold medalist and a world champion, and she is now the first female hockey player to be on an “EA NHL” cover. EA Sports announced on Twitter the full reveal of the game will be shown Thursday.

Zegras also provides New England representation as the 21-year-old played his college hockey at Boston University, where he was a finalist for Hockey East Rookie of the Year. Zegras was selected by the Ducks with the ninth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Entry Draft.

Nurse won her gold medal in the 2022 Beijing Olympics after Team Canada beat Team USA, 3-2, in the final. Team Canada’s gold medal run was a historic one as the final averaged 3.54 million viewers, more than any NHL game at that point in the 2021-22 season. It was the second most-watched hockey game in the United States since 2019.

Nurse is an independent member of the the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, and her announcement as a cover athlete comes after “NHL 22” added women’s national hockey teams to the game for the first time.

Hockey fans will hope these milestones will help contribute to the growth of the women’s game, boosting the profiles of players like Nurse and teams like the Boston Pride of the Premier Hockey Federation.