TORONTO SUN
Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby poses with the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP, the Lester B. Pearson Award and Art Ross Trophy during last night's annual awards ceremony. (Frank Gunn, CP)
The March of the Penguins and Martin Brodeur dominated the National Hockey League awards last night, trampling Roberto Luongo's trophy hopes in the process.
Pittsburgh's newly minted captain Sidney Crosby was a double MVP winner, Evgeni Malkin was rookie of the year and Jordan Staal made the all-rookie team as the Pens celebrated a return to the playoffs and the team staying in Steeltown.
"It has been an incredible couple of weeks," said the 19-year-old Crosby, the youngest scoring champion in pro sports history. "It looks like a very bright future for our team, but we're all hungry to take the next step. I haven't won a Stanley Cup."
Crosby won the Hart as the writers' MVP and the Pearson as the players' pick, while cameras caught his father Troy getting teary in the seats at the Elgin Theatre with his mother Trina.
"The sacrifices they made each morning, the road trips ... they went out of their way to make me happy," Crosby said. "They had no idea it would turn out like this."
The comparisons to Wayne Gretzky will heat up, though Crosby trails 9-1 in Harts.
"Like Gretzky, he'll make the NHL a better sport," said the New Jersey Devils' Brodeur, after copping his third Vezina Trophy. "He's the obvious choice, he's exciting, the fans love him and everyone's on his bandwagon."
Luongo, who turned around the Vancouver Canucks, presumably was the runner-up for the Pearson and was barely edged out by Brodeur for the Vezina, even though he had more Hart votes in coming second to Crosby. But Brodeur hinted that as he finally ended Dominik Hasek's hold on the awards table, Luongo would have his day now that he has escaped the weaker Florida Panthers.
"He's right there and he's trying to dethrone me with another team," Brodeur said.
What was expected to be a tight rookie race was a runaway win for Malkin, who had 120 first place votes to a combined 22 by Staal and Colorado's Paul Stastny. Crosby had lost the Calder to Washington's Alex Ovechkin last year, with both winding up as first-team all-stars with Ottawa's Dany Heatley this time.
NHL general mangers made Brodeur the Vezina winner, getting him two more first-place votes than Luongo. Despite Luongo's role in getting the Canucks back in the playoffs, the GMs judged Brodeur's NHL record 48 wins on a defensively weakened New Jersey team as a bigger feat.
Testicular cancer survivor Phil Kessel of the Bruins, who won the Bill Masterton Trophy, gave a touching speech. Two weeks after returning to the ice from treatment and recuperation, he had a hat trick during the young guns all-star game.
"At 19, you don't expect to hear the words 'you have cancer,' " Kessel said, in thanking the Bruins and the staff at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In another hair-splitter, Canucks coach Alain Vigneault denied Lindy Ruff consecutive Jack Adams Awards and picked up his first Adams after a nomination with the Canadiens, who promptly fired him 18 games into the next season. He worked his way back to the NHL and patched a fractured dressing room.
Nicklas Lidstrom had revenge on Anaheim Ducks' Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, beating them both for his fifth Norris Trophy after the three nominees duelled in the Western final. Rod Brind'Amour used his moment on the podium for his second straight Selke Trophy to congratulate the Ducks on the Cup.
"We want it back, just so you know," the 2006 champion with the Hurricanes said.
It was Brind'Amour's second straight Selke as top defensive forward, but he admitted it's not a prize he sought as a young scorer.
"It's the only way I'm going to get to this show," Brind'Amour said.
Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings, who has not yet reached 100 penalty minutes in his career, became the first repeat winning of the Lady Byng Trophy since Paul Kariya 10 years ago. Tomas Kaberle of the Maple Leafs was eighth.
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