EA Sports has announced that four-time Olympic Medallists Angela Ruggiero and Hayley Wickenheiser will become the first ever female playable characters in the EA Sports NHL franchise in the upcoming NHL 13.

The two female players will feature in the NHL 13 legends team alongside Doug Gilmour, Jari Kurri and Dominik Hasek.

“With the release of NHL 12 we added generic female characters in our Be a Pro mode based on a request from a 14-yr old female fan who emailed our staff because she felt underrepresented as a hockey videogame fan,” said Dean Richards, General Manager, NHL, EA SPORTS. “This year we are very excited to continue our effort of creating a more representative experience for female hockey fans by adding two of the greatest female athletes to ever play the game in Wickenheiser and Ruggiero to NHL 13.”

NHL 13 will be available on September 11, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.