Vancouver Canucks centre Henrik Sedin is the first Canuck to win the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's regular-season scoring champion.

"I am very proud of the season that our team and my teammates have put together," the humble Swede said Sunday afternoon once his achievement became official.

"It is a great honour to win this trophy. The names of past winners are many of the players we looked up to growing up in Sweden."

Sedin's four-point effort on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames, followed by Alexander Ovehckin's goose egg this morning in the Washington Capitals' 4-3 shootout loss against Boston, gave the Canuck a 112-109 advantage as the regular season came to an end.

Sedin also had to hold off a late charge from Sidney Crosby. The Penguins captain and Team Canada hero had five points on Sundayincluding his 51st goal to claim the Rocket Richard trophy and tie Ovechkin in points, but he needed eight points to take the scoring title from Henrik.

The last time anyone had eight points in an NHL game was Mario Lemiuex in 1989.

Ovechkin and Crosby needed only to tie Henrik in points to claim the scoring title, based on their goals (51 for Crosby, 50 for Ovechkin, to Henrik's 29).

Ovechkin failed to register a point Sunday after collecting seven in his three previous games to edge ahead of Henrik by one point before Saturday's games.

Former Canucks captain Markus Naslund twice came close to winning a scoring race, finishing second to Calgary's Jarome Iginla in 2001-02 and to Colorado's Peter Forsberg in 2002-03.

Henrik's 29 goals and 83 assists also broke Pavel Bure's franchise scoring record, set with 110 points in 1992-93.

"Many of my teammates have had career seasons offensively and this trophy is a reflection of our hard work," Sedin said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity my teammates and the coaching staff gave me to try and win this award. It reflects teamwork and commitment."

Critics will point to the fact that Ovechkin played 10 fewer games than Henrik. His scoring pace over 82 games would have given him 124 points. But injuries and suspensions are a part of the game that Ovechkin brought upon himself through his style of play — and he averaged two minutes more ice time per game than Henrik. Over the course of their respective 72 and 82 games played, Ovechkin barely edges out Henrik in points-per-minute-played, 0.00118 to 0.00116.

The reality is that Henrik Sedin's name will now join those of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and the other greats (including Ovechkin and Crosby) who have their names engraved on the Art Ross Trophy.

Email reporter Gordon McIntyre at gordshockey@hotmail.com