Bedard’s family influence helps make him likely No. 1 pick in 2023 Draft
Connor Bedard had no time to spare prior to overtime with his team fighting for a playoff berth in the final month of the season.
Most players would use the brief break as a time to rest before the five-minute, 3-on-3 period.
Not Bedard. He had other intentions at a time when Regina needed a win against Red Deer on March 4 to increase the chances of qualifying for the Western Hockey League playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
“Connor took the coaches board and started drawing up plays off the face-off,” said Regina right wing Borya Valis, Bedard’s linemate at the time. “We’re all like, ‘Oh, he knows what he’s doing.’ After the game, Connor told us he had been thinking about that play for a week and wanted to try it.
“It was an awesome moment. I was like, ‘Yeah, I guess Connor can be a player and coach.'”
The play?
“I’m not going to say because I might want to use it again,” Bedard said with a grin. “But we did something similar to what I did a few years ago in midget, and I wanted to do it with the guys [in Regina]. We had talked about it that week and if we went to overtime, I was hoping to try it.
“But I lost the draw, so we couldn’t do it.”
He may have lost the draw, but he had the primary assist for his fourth point of the game on the game-winner. After drawing a defender to him in the left-wing corner, Bedard launched a backhand pass onto the tape of Alexander Suzdalev for the finish from the right face-off circle 55 seconds into overtime. Regina won 6-5 and ultimately was one of the eight teams to qualify for the WHL playoffs from the Eastern Conference, earning the sixth seed.
These are the moments Bedard’s teammates and coaches will remember with great appreciation years from now, if they aren’t doing so already.
“You’re seeing right there how mature he is as a 17-year-old because usually you’ll see 19- or 20-year-olds do that kind of stuff,” Regina assistant coach Brad Herauf said of Bedard drawing up the play. “When you’re coaching those high-level guys who have that offensive talent, you can’t stifle that stuff. You have to let them be creative and be in their thoughts. When it comes to his engagement, his hockey IQ, he is way beyond his years.
“For Connor, it was just the next level of him, and I think that’s the real cool part of getting to coach him this year … he got to a point where it’s like coaching a pro.”
High praise for someone who hasn’t played a minute of professional hockey, but Bedard (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) is no ordinary teenager with a burning desire to be successful at the game he loves.
The right-handed center has what seems like the perfect makeup for a surefire generational talent: a strong family influence, a relentless nature on the ice, a shot unlike anything seen in some time, and intelligence that sets him apart from other prospects eligible for…
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Read More: Bedard’s family influence helps make him likely No. 1 pick in 2023 Draft 2023-06-24 21:24:05
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