3 min read

TORONTO – Boston Bruins goalie Andrew Raycroft was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team, the league announced Thursday.

Raycroft posted a 29-18-9 record with a 2.05 goals against average, helping the Bruins win the Northeast Division title. He finished the season 14-6-3 in his last 23 games.

Boston was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by the Montreal Canadiens.

Raycroft, 24, was Boston’s fifth round pick in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

To qualify for rookie status, a player cannot have played more than 25 games in any single preceding season.

The All-Rookie Team is selected by the professional hockey writers at the end of the regular season.

Also selected were defensemen John-Michael Liles of Colorado and Joni Pitkanen of Philadelphia, and forwards Trent Hunter of the Islanders, Ryan Malone of Pittsburgh, and Michael Ryder of Montreal.

The Tampa Bay Lightning have a few more awards to go with their Stanley Cup.

Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella won coach of the year, Brad Richards was saluted as most gentlemanly player and Martin St. Louis took home the biggest prize as league MVP at the NHL awards banquet Thursday night.

St. Louis also was presented with the Art Ross Trophy as scoring champion and, earlier in the day, he won the Lester B. Pearson Award as most outstanding player as selected by his peers.

Tampa Bay beat Calgary in Game 7 of finals on Monday.

It wasn’t even close: St. Louis was first on 97 of 105 ballots and amassed 1,016 points, while runner-up Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames was second with two firsts and 253 points.

He beat out Colorado captain Joe Sakic and Florida goalie Roberto Luongo for the Pearson. Sakic was the last player (2001) before St. Louis to win the Pearson and the Hart in the same year.

Tortorella was the first U.S.-born coach to win the Adams Award. San Jose’s Ron Wilson was second and Calgary’s Darryl Sutter was third in the voting.

Actor Russell Crowe read out Richards’ name as the winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. Richards spent only 12 minutes in penalty boxes last season. Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson was runnerup.

New Jersey’s Brodeur was named best goalie for the second year in a row. Fifteen of the 30 NHL general managers picked Brodeur for the Vezina Trophy. Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff was runnerup.

Devils teammate Scott Niedermayer won the Norris Trophy as best defenseman, amassing 872 points and getting 72 first-place votes. Ottawa’s Zdeno Chara was second with 563 points and 19 first-place votes.

“This is pretty new to me,” said Niedermayer. “Lots of people would say, “Hey, you’ve got a good chance to win.’ But I didn’t expect to have to get out of my seat and make a speech.

Kris Draper, of the Detroit Red Wings, who anchored the league’s best penalty-killing unit and also had a career-best 40 points, won the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward.

“I’m in some unbelievable company in winning the Selke Trophy,” he said. “Everything I’ve always done is team oriented and it’s going to continue to be that way but to be singled out as the Selke winner is really special.”

Comments are no longer available on this story