With the start of the second round of EA SPORTS NHL’s first ever cover vote, the NHL® 13 Cover Vote – sponsored by BlackBerry,  we thought that now would be a great time to recap some of our favorite moments and biggest highlights from the first round of competition.

In New York, where Rangers’ goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was up against centre Brad Richards, the two teammates took the challenge to Twitter as they tried to coax their fellow Rangers to vote for them.  When Rangers’ left winger Brandon Prust (@BrandonPrust8) Tweeted “I'll vote 4 whoever has me over for dinner tonite”, Lundqvist (@HLundqvist30) and Richards (@BRichards_1991) went back and forth trying to win Prust’s support.  From meals, to a week’s use of Lundqvist’s Lamborghini, to promised celebrity golf appearances, the two Rangers worked hard for Prust’s vote.  Lundqvist defeated Richards, though we’re not sure how much of that was due to his cooking.  What is clear is that the Rangers had some of the strongest support in the first round of voting.

Jordan Eberle (@ebs_14) of the Edmonton Oilers was far more to the point on Twitter, calling on fans to vote for him over his teammate Taylor Hall by Tweeting “Hey vote for me to be on the cover of NHL 13 at http://ow.ly/9XOBJ. Or you can vote for that plugTaylor hall? #Nhl13Cover #bebold”.  This strategy seemed to be work for Eberle as he took down Hall.

Taking to Twitter also helped David Perron of the St. Louis Blues who offered fans the chance to win a 60-minute private skating session with him as well as a jersey, stick, gloves and helmet from Reebok.  While he was defeated by T.J. Oshie, his support remained strong throughout the first round voting and ultimately was awarded a ‘Wild Card’ spot in the round of 32.

Be sure to follow all the athletes by checking out the Twitter hastag #NHL13Cover.  If you’re Tweeting about the contest get your Tweets seen by using #NHL13Cover.

Defenseman Jordie Benn of the Dallas Stars took to video site Tout to encourage Stars’ fans to vote for his teammate and brother Jamie Benn.  The nominated Phoenix Coyotes players brought in teammates to help them make their case in a video hosted by the Coyotes official site.  Paul Bissonnette argued in favour of Keith Yandle while Adrian Aucoin threw his support behind eventual winner Shane Doan.  While it would be nice to think that Doan won thanks to his Collecovision reference, it is clear that the video helped drive fan voting on behalf of both Coyotes.

Some NHL teams have gotten into the action as well, with the Philadelphia Flyers throwing their weight behind their two candidates Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell.  The Flyers updated their official website’s landing page to feature the face-off between the two players, calling on their fans to “Make It A Flyer”.  With team support like that Philly players have a great chance of moving past the second round and to go far into the later stages of the tournament.  Giroux won Philadelphia, though Hartnell released an election campaign style video to build his base that ultimately secured him a Wild Card place in the next round.

In Winnipeg, the Jets fansite Winnipeg Whiteout’s podcasters created a video to support Evander Kane who won the right to support the relocated team in the next round.  Fellow Jet Andrew Ladd had help from his brothers who took to YouTube to argue Andrew’s case.

A video camera and a good eye for cinematography were not always enough to help players win.  Anaheim Ducks netminder Jonas Hiller created this hilarious video and a brief follow up and yet was not able to defeat teammate Corey Perry, though the video did help spike his support during the vote.

We’ve seen some great support from fans, players and teams throughout the first round. With the second round of action now live, head to CoverVote.NHL.com to cast your ballot and if you’re up for the challenge, create your own content supporting your favorite player/team.