Ovechkin wins the Calder, Crosby finishes second.

Not unexpectedly, Alexander Ovechkin won the Calder Trophy over Sidney Crosby. I'm a bit surprised that the voting was so heavily in favour of Ovechkin, but he was an obvious choice so it's not a shame for Crosby to finish second the way he did.

From The Washington Post:

Ovechkin wasn't always the favorite to win the Calder. Before the season, the trophy had all but been handed to Crosby, the Penguins' first overall pick last year, by the Canadian media, which had chronicled his career since he was in juniors. Ovechkin was a near-unanimous selection, receiving 124 of 129 first-place votes and five second-place votes for 1,275 points.

Crosby, 18, had a similarly stellar season, becoming the youngest player to score 100 points. But Ovechkin's scoring flair and board-rattling body checks endeared him to fans and won over the hockey writers, who determine the winner by vote.

Uhh, yeah, the fact that Ovechkin simply had more points and more goals had nothing to do with it. Riiiight. Voters don't vote on the awards until AFTER the season, and it was kind of obvious that the pre-season hype had nothing to do with the final results.

Gotta love the Washington homerism. I guess this is all that passes for good coverage in that section of the continent.