EA Sports' NHL 13 cover vote has now completed two rounds and the final eight players have been revealed as we make our way towards the announcement of the winner during the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on June 20. Over the next week and a half there will be two voting periods involving two separate matchups. After over 16 millions votes, here are your final eight: In Bracket A will be Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, along with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers. Voting for this bracket begins today and will run through May 17th. Bracket B will feature John Tavares of the New York Islanders against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers vs. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Voting for Bracket B starts on May 18th and will end on May 23th. The final four players will be announced on May 24th. Some teams with players in the running have created their own campaigns to garner votes from fans. The Kings and Kopitar released a video last month, while the Islanders have pumped up Tavares' campaign by going old school with some promotional materials,  referencing the great NBA Jam . Boom Shaka Laka! Voting will take place at  NHL.com/CoverVote and fans can do so an unlimited number of times. A Twitter hashtag,  #NHL13Cover , will also track the cover athlete tournament discussion. Updates and other content will also show up on the  EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page . Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

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HELSINKI (AP) New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo scored twice to help the United States beat France 7-2 on Friday in the first game of the world hockey championships.

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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - United States crushed France 7-2 while Canada squeezed past Slovakia 3-2 as the preliminary round of the world ice hockey championships got underway on Friday. France went into a surprise 1-0 lead midway through the first period but Kyle Okposo of the New York Islanders soon leveled. The superior fitness of the Americans told the longer the game went on and they eventually swept the French aside in the third period of the Group H game. ...

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HELSINKI (AP) New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo scored twice to help the United States beat France 7-2 on Friday in the first game of the world hockey championships.

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Florida Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell, Edmonton Oilers forward Jordan Eberle and New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson have been named finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy, which will be presented on June 20 at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

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Defenseman Brian Campbell of the Florida Panthers, right wing Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers and left wing Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders are the three finalists for the 2011-12 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Which means Loui Eriksson isn't one. The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on this Trophy, which is awarded "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." Now, for a while we were thinking that the biggest controversy for this ridiculous award — it's the hockey equivalent of the "School Spirit" award in a high-school yearbook … or maybe "Shiest," which always went to that girl who played the violin — would be the exclusion of Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but that was before his PIMs climbed late in the season. Instead, we're faced with the exclusion of 2011 Byng finalist Loui Eriksson because (a) all the voters do is count up the penalty minutes for leading scorers and (b) Eriksson had 12(!) of them, which apparently makes him John Wayne Gacy on ice. Now that Loui was robbed , who wins the 2011-12 Lady Byng?

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Florida Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell, Edmonton Oilers forward Jordan Eberle and New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson have been named finalists for the Lady Byng Trophy, which will be presented on June 20 at the NHL Awards Show in Las Vegas.

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NEW YORK (AP) NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says Brooklyn may not be a viable potential destination for the New York Islanders because it's hard to reach for the team's fan base in Long Island and Queens.

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UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) The New York Islanders say assistant coaches Scott Allen and Dean Chynoweth won't return to coach Jack Capuano's staff next season.

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The New York Islanders have fired assistant coaches Scott Allen and Dean Chynoweth, making moves after the team finished in the basement of the Atlantic Division for the fifth consecutive season.

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