Plover native and San Jose Sharks All-Star forward Joe
Pavelski advanced to the finals of the voting to appear on the cover of the EA
Sports NHL 17 videogame for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while the Sharks were
set to host Game 7 against the Nashville Predators in the second round of the
National Hockey League (NHL) Stanley Cup Playoffs Thursday, May 12.

Pavelski was named one of eight finalists to appear on
the cover of NHL 17, and defeated Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings in
Round 1 April 26 through May 2, and then beat Connor McDavid of the Edmonton
Oilers in Round 2 Tuesday, May 3, through Monday, May 9, to advance to the
finals.

Pavelski is taking on Vladimir Tarasenko of the St.
Louis Blues in the finals, as voting began Tuesday, May 10, and will end at 2
p.m. Central Monday, May 16.

Voting will take place online at
nhl.com/ea-sports-nhl-17-cover-vote, or via Twitter by using the hashtag
#NHL17Pavelski to vote for Pavelski. All Twitter votes on Thursdays will count
double.

Meanwhile, the Sharks were set to host Nashville in
Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals Thursday at 8 p.m. Central.

San Jose took a 2-1 series lead in Game 4 at Nashville
Thursday, May 5, and held a 3-2 lead late in the third period, when Nashville
scored with 4:21 left to tie it at 3-3 and force overtime.

Pavelski scored what would have been the game-winning goal
7:34 into the first overtime, but the officials waved it off for goaltender
interference, as Pavelski was cross-checked from behind into Nashville goalie
Pekka Rinne, and the replay review upheld the ruling.

The game went into triple overtime, where Nashville
scored at 11:12 in the third overtime to win 4-3 and even the series at 2-2.

Game 5 San Jose was tied 1-1 in the first period
Saturday, May 7, when Pavelski scored with 2:39 left in the first period to
take a 2-1 lead.

The Sharks added a goal 35 seconds into the second
period to go up 3-1, and Pavelski scored again on a power-play goal with 38
seconds left in the second period, as they went on to a 5-1 win to take a 3-2
series lead.

The series went back to Nashville for Game 6 Monday,
May 9, where San Jose scored twice in the opening 11:51 of the first period to
take a 2-0 lead, before Nashville had a goal in the first period and another in
the second to leave the game tied at 2-2 entering the third period.

San Jose scored a power-play goal at 10:04 of the
third period to take a 3-2 lead, but Nashville scored at the 12:44 mark of the
third period to tie the game at 3-3 and eventually send it to overtime, where
Nashville scored 2:03 into the extra period to win 4-3 and force Game 7.

The winner will face the St. Louis Blues in the
Western Conference Finals, after the Blues beat the Dallas Stars 6-1 in Game 7
of their Western Conference Semifinal series Wednesday, May 11.

Dates and times have yet to be announced for the
Western Conference Finals, whose winner will face either the Pittsburgh
Penguins or Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Finals.