NHL 06 Cover Athlete Announced

Tampa Bay Lightning All-Star center Vincent Lecavalier has signed with Electronic Arts to be the cover athlete and spokesman for the upcoming NHL 06. The next installment in the long running franchise is being developed by EA Canada in Vancouver, and will be available on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC this fall. You can check out some screenshots from the game here.

Following the 2003-04 NHL season, Lecavalier led the Lightning to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they prevailed in seven games. Just three months later he was named the MVP as Team Canada won the 2004 World Cup of Hockey. "I am very excited about being a member of the EA SPORTS team," Lecavalier said. "I grew up playing EA SPORTS games and to be a part of NHL 06 now is a great honor."

NHL will feature the EA Sports Skill Stick, allowing gamers to light the lamp with highlight reel moves such as spinoramas, toe drags, bat-ins, and between-the-legs shots. Classic deke control adds to the arsenal of moves allowing maneuvers around defensemen before snapping off shots.

5/5/2005 Aaron Thomas