Sarah Nurse, Trevor Zegras Revealed as ‘NHL 23′ Cover Athletes

Sarah Nurse, Trevor Zegras revealed as ‘NHL 23’ cover athletes originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington

The 2023 edition of EA Sports’ NHL video game franchise will be a historic one.

Team Canada forward Sarah Nurse and Anaheim Ducks center Trevor Zegras were revealed as the cover athletes for “NHL 23” by EA Sports on Wednesday. It’s the first time in the game’s history that a woman is on the cover.

“It’s something that I never even thought was in the realm of possibilities,” Nurse told ESPN. “I never even dreamed of being on it. And so I think that it’s huge, and I think that it just speaks for where women’s hockey is right now, the visibility and the value that people see in women’s hockey.”

Nurse’s cover appearance comes after EA Sports added women’s national team rosters from the IIHF world championships to “NHL 22” in January, which marked the introduction of women’s players to the series.

The 27-year-old Nurse is a two-time Olympic medalist with Team Canada, capturing silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games and gold at the 2022 Beijing Games. She also owns one gold and one bronze medal from the IIHF world championships.

Nurse made history at February’s Beijing Games by setting Olympic records for assists (13) and points (18) en route to becoming the first Black woman to ever win an Olympic gold hockey medal. She recorded one goal and one assist to help push Canada past Team USA in the gold medal game.

Zegras, meanwhile, is coming off a strong first full NHL season. The No. 9 overall pick in the 2019 draft put up 61 points (23 goals, 38 assists) across 75 games with Anaheim in 2021-22. He was named to the All-Rookie First Team and finished second behind Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider in voting for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

EA Sports is set to unveil the trailer for “NHL 23” will on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET, while the game will be released on Oct. 14.