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Just past the midway portion of the 2013-2014 NHL schedule, Scott Cullen has his picks for first half award winners. Discount Under Armour Shoes . There are surprises among the Vezina candidates, but most of the others are standard top-tier performers, even if the two Hart Trophy runners-ups have never been quite as good as they have been through the first half of the season. While there is much room for movement over the second half of the year, the Calder Trophy race might be the most volatile because no one has run away from the pack and when there are so many candidates close together, it gets easy to see big changes. Anyway, here are my picks for awards through first first half of this season: HART TROPHY Winner: Sidney Crosby, C, Pittsburgh Runners-up: Ryan Getzlaf, C, Anaheim; Patrick Kane, Chicago Comment: After what counted as a slump for him knocked Crosby to runner-up status through the first quarter, hes pulled away from the pack, leading the scoring race by nine points over Kane and 15 points ahead of Getzlaf who fit second and third, respectively. Scoring isnt everything, but all three have been on a roll through the first half of the season. Getzlafs shooting percentage (17.9%) and on-ice shooting percentage (12.0%) are a tad higher than his norm, but hes also shooting more than he has in the past and the results are there -- his 20 goals already counts as his most since 2008-2009 and has him in easy range of surpassing his career-best of 25 goals. Kane has a strong supporting cast, of course, but hes on pace for a career-high in points and shots per game. Hes slumped in his last four games, but Kane has done enough to deserve consideration. If not Kane, Capitals RW Alex Ovechkin is worthy of consideration. His 31 goals is six more than anyone else, and while Ovechkin has an unsightly minus-17, his possession stats are solid and basically has bad puck luck when it comes to percentages. NORRIS TROPHY Winner: Duncan Keith, Chicago Runners-up: Erik Karlsson, Ottawa; P.K. Subban, Montreal Comment: Keith is having a season very similar to his 2009-2010 season, when he won the Norris Trophy, putting up dominant possession stats, but also contributing more offensively -- his 42 points in 45 games (0.93 per game) represents the best per-game scoring rate of his career. Karlsson continues to be a game-changer offensively, and his possession numbers are more favourable than his minus-12 rating would suggest, but the percentages have not been playing in his favour through the first half of the season. Subban had a fantastic start to the year, but his play dipped some in December. Not enough to knock him from contention, but enough that hes closer to other contenders, like Nashvilles Shea Weber and St. Louis Alex Pietrangelo, than he is to Keith at this point. VEZINA TROPHY Winner: Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Runners-up: Josh Harding, Minnesota; Tuukka Rask, Boston Comment: The 32 games that Bishop has played this season already counts as a career-high, so who knows where this is going (especially considering his injury on the weekend), but he leads in even-strength save percentage (.945) and has been an anchor for a team that has been playing without their top offensive threat for more than a quarter of the season. Harding was the early front-runner, but has only played two games in the past three weeks as he took time to adjust MS medication. That hes usurped Niklas Backstrom in net for the Wild is a story in itself, but Hardings numbers still have him right there with Bishop through the first half of the year. Rask is the more predictable option, the one goaltender that would have been considered a contender in the preseason because Rask is always turning in excellent work -- his worst save percentage in the last five seasons was .918 and this years .934 currently ranks as a career-high. There is plenty of time for other goaltenders to make their move. Montreals Carey Price, Torontos Jonathan Bernier and Colorados Semyon Varlamov are among those closest to the contenders. CALDER TROPHY Winner: Torey Krug, D, Boston Runners-up: Tomas Hertl, LW, San Jose; Seth Jones, D, Nashville Comment: With 23 points in 42 games, defenceman Krug is only three points behind Colorados Nathan MacKinnon, who leads the rookie scoring race. More than half of Krugs points have come on the power play, where hes running the point on the Bruins number one unit, but without any breakout forwards, Krug is the pick at the midpoint of the season. Hertl was the leading candidate, even if he slowed down from his tremendous start, but hes already missed more than two weeks since taking a knee-on-knee hit from the Kings Dustin Brown and hes still going to be on the shelf for the forseeable future. Jones had a strong case early in the year, then his game fell off and his ice time was reduced dramatically. Hes working his way back up lately, enough to get a runner-up nod, though not far ahead of the competition. MacKinnon is starting to pick up offensively, and injuries in Colorado are opening up more opportunities. Others of note include Rangers LW Chris Kreider, Jets D Jacob Trouba, Kings RW Tyler Toffoli, Panthers C Aleksander Barkov and Stars RW Valeri Nichushkin, who could be in the best position of all if he can stick on the wing with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin on the Stars number one line. SELKE AWARD Winner: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Runners-up: Patrice Bergeron, Boston; David Backes, St. Louis Comment: Its a familiar group, with Toews and Bergeron the last two winners. They simply excel as two-way players, typically dominating possession even when they face elite competition. Backes isnt far behind, either. Hes a beast to play against, handles tough assignments like Bergeron and Backes is probably getting a little more notice this season because hes been running alongside Alexander Steen for most of the year. Steen would be a candidate too, but thats because hes always a sound two-way player, not because of his goal-scoring explosion, and Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has such a strong two-way game that he has a chance to work his way into consideration, which isnt easy for a winger. JACK ADAMS AWARD Winner: Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Runners-up: Ken Hitchcock, St. Louis; Todd McLellan, San Jose Comment: Its always difficult to narrow down the best coaching jobs, but the Ducks have been so good that some credit should go to Boudreau, who is not only getting the most out of his superstars, but also the supporting cast. The St. Louis Blues play such a grind-it-out style of game that its a testament to the coaching of Ken Hitchcock that they stick with it, and they have one of the leagues best records despite what has been merely decent goaltending. Same goes for San Jose and coach Todd McLellan, who is succeeding without great numbers from his tenders and has done some line juggling to incorporate younger options. A couple of other viable candidates -- Colorados Patrick Roy and Tampa Bays Jon Cooper -- have had such strong goaltending that I have a hard time separating that from the team success. Theyre worthy, but would they be worthy if their goalies werent great? Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Under Armour Wholesale Outlet .com) - Real Madrid claimed its 20th consecutive win across all competitions by cruising to a 4-1 victory at Almeria on Friday. Cheap Under Armour Shoes China . After a 99-97 loss to the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night, his Celtics coaches and teammates have only positive things to say about the Toronto-born rookie. http://www.underarmourwholesale.com/ . Vincent Lamar Carter is no longer the lean, athletic dynamo who dazzled Raptors fans with eye-popping dunks that posterized even the leagues best defenders.BOISBRIAND, Que. - Daniel Walcott scored 1:40 into overtime as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada edged the visiting Quebec Remparts 3-2 on Sunday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Walcotts goal extended Blainville-Boisbriands win streak to eight games as they are the only team in the QMJHL yet to lose a game. Christopher Clapperton scored once and set up two more for the Armada (8-0-0) while Walcott tacked on an assist for a two-point outing. Samuel Tremblay also scored for Blainville-Boisbriand. Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Fabrice Herzog scored both goals for the Remparts (1-5-3), who are winless in five contests. Guillaime Decelles only had to make 18 saves for his fourth win of the campaign. Francis Brassard gave his club a chance to win as he stopped 42 shots, earning the games first star in defeat. Herzog opened the scoring for Quebec with a power-play goal 3:22 into the opening period, but Tremblay responded for Blainville-Boisbriand to make it 1-1 after 20 minutes of play. In the second period, Brassard kept his team in it long enough for Herzog to put them back ahead with another power-play goal at 14:10. It looked as if the Armada would be handed their first loss of the season until Clapperton scored with the man advantage at 16:57 of the third period to force overtime. Blainville-Boisbriand went 2 for 8 on the power play while Quebec scored twice on five chances with the man advantage. --- Sea Dogs 5 Titan 4 (SO) BATHURST, N.B., -- Joey Richard scored twice in regulation and Noah Zilbert had the shootout winner as Saint John slipped past the Titan. Michael Abbott had a gooal and an assist for the Sea Dogs (5-3-1) while Nathan Noel scored the other. Under Armour Shoes Sale Online. Christophe Boivin led Acadie-Bathurst (4-5-1) offensively with a goal and two assists and Alexandros Soumakis, Dominic Beauchemin and Robert Pelletier each scored once. Antoine Landry made 34 saves for the win. Jacob Brennan stopped 43 shots in defeat. --- Wildcats 3 Screaming Eagles 1 SYDNEY, N.S., -- Alex Dubeau turned away 34 shots as Moncton downed Cape Breton. Christophe Lalonde scored twice for the Wildcats (4-6-0), including the winner, while Garret Johnson scored into an empty net. Julien Pelletier had the lone goal for the Screaming Eagles (4-3-2). Maxime Legace stopped 19-of-21 shots in a losing cause. --- Mooseheads 3 Voltigeurs 2 DRUMMONDVILLE, Que., -- Timo Meier scored twice, including the winner on the power play, as Halifax defeated the Voltigeurs. Jonathan Drouin also scored for the Mooseheads (6-5-0) and Danny Moynihan chipped in with two assists. Jerome Verrier and Christophe Lalancette scored for Drummondville (6-4-0). Zachary Fucale made 22 saves for the win as Louis-Philip Guindon turned away 21 shots in defeat. --- Olympiques 5 Phoenix 3 SHERBROOKE, Que., -- Derek Sheppard had a goal and two assists to lead Gatineau over the Phoenix. Vaclav Karabacek and Emile Poirier had a goal and an assist each for the Olympiques (6-3-0) while Simon Tardif-Richard and Elie Berube scored the others. Jean-Francois Plante, Alexandre Sills and Chase Harwell scored for Sherbrooke (2-6-1). Anthony Brodeur made 21 saves for the win as Gabriel Parent stopped 32 shots in defeat. ' ' '