Sharks' Thornton edges Jagr for Hart Trophy

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Joe Thornton edged out Jaromir Jagr again.

Thornton, who beat out Jagr for the scoring title by two points, took the Hart Trophy as the NHL's MVP on Thursday with Jagr again relegated to runner-up.

"I was a big hockey fan so I would always watch these awards and Wayne [Gretzky] would always take it home and obviously Mario [Lemieux] and Mark [Messier] as well," Thornton said after accepting the award from Messier at the league's annual award ceremony. "It's just very humbling just knowing I'm going to be on the same page as these guys."

San Jose's star center already had the Art Ross Trophy tucked away as the league's top scorer, thanks to a 125-point regular season. Thornton won the MVP in a close vote of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association, finishing with 1,058 points to Jagr's 974. Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was a distant third with 561 votes.

Thornton, acquired by the Sharks from Boston in a trade on Nov. 30, led San Jose into the playoffs with 29 goals and 96 assists. He scored 20 goals and set up 72 others in 58 games with San Jose, lifting his team to the fifth seed in the Western Conference and helping linemate Jonathan Cheechoo win the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the league's leader with 56 goals.

Jagr, who won the Hart in 1999 with Pittsburgh, did win his third Lester B. Pearson Award as players' choice for most outstanding player.

With 54 goals and 69 assists -- both Rangers' records -- Jagr carried New York to its first postseason appearance since 1997.

Kiprusoff won his first Vezina Trophy as top NHL goaltender, ending Martin Bro-deur's run at two in a row.

Kiprusoff was tops in goals-against average (2.02) and shutouts (10), and third in save percentage (.923).

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin beat out fellow freshmen scoring sensation Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguin and hard-hitting Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf for the Calder Memorial Trophy as top NHL rookie.

The 20-year-old Ovechkin led all rookies with 106 points.

Crosby, 18, wasn't far behind with 39 goals and 102 points, becoming the youngest player to record 100 points in a season.

Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom won his fourth Norris Trophy as top defenseman ahead of Anaheim's Scott Neidermayer and Dallas' Sergei Zubov.