Jamie Benn Back At It Again With EA Sports Cover Nomination
By Josh Clark
The Dallas Stars got some exciting news Tuesday, as they received word that their captain could be voted onto the cover of the video game NHL 17 by EA Sports.
When you’re good at something, people notice. It’s just how it goes.
This is obviously the case for Jamie Benn, who was announced today as one of the eight finalists for the NHL 17 cover vote. NHL 17 will be the latest addition to the NHL video game franchise by EA Sports, and will hit the shelves sometime this September.
Benn was selected to represent Team Canada. The other five “big” countries represented in the NHL (United States of America, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden) are all being represented also, as well as two final players representing Europe and North America as a whole to round out the eight-player bracket.
Alexsander Barkov (Finland), Vladimir Tarasenko (Russia), Victor Hedman (Sweden), Joe Pavelski (USA), Jakub Voracek (Czech Republic), Connor McDavid (North America), and Anze Kopitar (Europe) are the other finalists competing in the head-to-head battles. In the first round, Jamie Benn will face off with Barkov, Tarasenko will take on Hedman, Pavelski is matched up against Kopitar, and McDavid will take on Voracek.
All eight players have one reason or another to claim the fame that is the front cover. But only a couple have been in the waiting line for more than one year to grace the plastic case. One of those is Jamie Benn.
Around this time last season, EA Sports tweeted out their initial trailer video for NHL 16 and determined the NHL cover athlete on their own. They announced in a tweet that one of the players that made an appearance in the trailer would end up being the new cover athlete. Those players turned out to be Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. EA would eventually change the cover to only Toews amidst charges brought up against Kane.
But Jamie Benn was one of the athletes in that trailer, and a lot of people believed he had a realistic chance at clinching cover duty. After winning the Art Ross Trophy in dramatic fashion on two busted hips, Benn was proving that he was only getting better with each passing year and was nowhere close to his peak.
This year, he once again proved that his potential is simply undeterminable. Playing his second straight complete season and only missing one game over the past three years due to a healthy scratch, Benn scored 41 goals and tallied 89 points, a new career high and became only the second Dallas Star ever to tally 40 goals or more in a season.
Benn’s leadership is growing with each passing year since putting the C on his shoulder in September of 2013. It is clear in watching any game that he will do whatever it takes for his team to succeed, whether that is scoring goals, making key passes, playing shutdown defense, or dropping the gloves to defend a teammate. He’s the ultimate hockey player, in other words (Jonathan Quick’s words, not mine).
So that is probably why he is being included in this voting process. Benn is confidently leading his team into a dangerous second round matchup against the St. Louis Blues. He’s got plenty of experience behind him and a long and prosperous hockey career ahead.
Jamie Benn is going up against a skilled youngster in Alexsander Barkov. At the young age of 20, Barkov just completed his third season with the Atlantic Division champion Florida Panthers. He scored 28 goals and tallied 59 points in 66 games this past regular season. In the most recent update of Twitter trends, he is receiving plenty of support, just like Benn.
It all comes down to the participation of the fans. That being said, make sure to hop online and vote today! And don’t forget that you can cast your ballot for Benn in multiple ways.
Step one: vote online
Click the link here and click on Jamie Benn to cast your vote in his favor. You can also vote in the other three contests if you feel inclined to. If not, as long as you click on Benn, all will be right with the world. The first round will last from now until May 2nd, when the final four will move on. So cast as many votes as you can each day to help push Benn to the next round.
More stars: Stars Are Being Made Into Stanley Cup Playoff Bad Guys
Step two: use Twitter
If you have a Twitter account, make sure to tweet #NHL17Benn every time you send out a tweet to continue casting votes for Benn. Also, make sure to retweet all tweets you see by any other account using the same hashtag, because it will add another vote just as sending a tweet does.
Next: Stars Loading Up For Heated War Against Blues
Jamie Benn is working his way up to a Stanley Cup and helping carry the Dallas Stars along. In the end, he is just stacking on to an already respectable resume. An “NHL 17 Cover Athlete” would be a decent addition.