Welcome to this edition of "From The Archive". In this recurring series, we open The Hockey News' vault and display some of the top WHL-related articles from the past. Today's article comes from Volume 76, Issue 13, where Carol Schram wrote about former Regina Pats Star, Connor Bedard.
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"The One And Only", Volume 76, Issue 13, May 2023
For his entire hockey-playing life, Connor Bedard has been testing himself against older players. But after his WHL season ended with a Game 7 loss to the Saskatoon Blades, he chose not to suit up for the Canadian men’s team at the World Championship in Finland and Latvia in May.
“I was grateful to be invited,” said Bedard from his family’s home in North Vancouver in late April. “My summer’s so up in the air. My only month where I know I’ll be home is in May, so I thought, ‘Stay home, focus on training and stuff.’ Because you don’t really know what’s going to happen with everything.”
“Everything,” of course, is the NHL draft in June – and what comes afterward.
Assuming his destiny plays out as expected and Bedard is selected first overall by Chicago, he’ll head straight to the Blackhawks’ development camp, then off to another summer of high-level training – where he has been showing off his sublime skill set in front of NHL players for years.
When New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal was asked when he first skated with Bedard during a summer hockey session in Vancouver, he replied: “He would have been 12, I think. Wearing a cage, and his skates looked a little too big. Then we came back the next summer, and he was beating NHL goalies with his shot. The kid’s the real deal.”
Bedard was first mentioned in The Hockey News in 2017, and a year later, he was profiled as a 13-year-old in THN’s Superstar Issue. But the story didn’t just highlight the precocious talent and tireless work ethic that mirrored past generational talents such as Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid. It also laid out the plan that would hopefully lead to the No. 1 overall draft selection, which is now all but guaranteed.
The first two hurdles were cleared easily. In 2019-20, Bedard was granted an exception from B.C. Hockey in order to play three years up on the under-18 team at his prep school, West Van Academy. As a 14-year-old on that team, he led the league in scoring with 43 goals and 84 points in 36 games.
Bedard then became the first player ever to receive the exceptional-status designation from the WHL, which allowed him to start his major-junior career a year early, at 15. But then came the pandemic shutdowns that brought hockey to a virtual standstill in the fall of 2020.
Not knowing when the WHL season might begin, Bedard and older sister Madisen took flight to Sweden. The siblings spent two months in Jonkoping, as Bedard trained with the junior squads in the HV71 organization. But he suited up for just five games before the Swedish junior leagues were also shut down, and he headed back home.
Finally, on March 12, 2021, in a bubble setting inside an empty arena, Bedard made his WHL debut. Though his Regina Pats fell 6-3 to the Prince Albert Raiders, he scored two goals on seven shots. It was a sign of things to come.
Over the next month, he played 14 more games, scoring in eight and putting up 26 points. Then, in April, he donned the maple leaf for the first time, as a double-underager at the 2021 U-18 world championship in Texas. “Honestly, I didn’t know there was a U-18 tournament,” he said. “I knew about the (Hlinka-Gretzky Cup), but I didn’t know about the world championship somehow.”
Once he found out, it was a quick “yes,” especially after such a tumultuous year. With seven goals and 14 points in seven games, Bedard tied with teammate Shane Wright for second in scoring and was named to the tournament all-star team after Canada defeated Russia for gold. The chatter about how the 2023 NHL draft could be one for the ages suddenly got much louder.
ROAD TRIP
With his mid-July birthday, 17-year-old Bedard will be one of the youngest players in the draft mix in Nashville. He’s a singular talent, but he’ll be going through the gauntlet of draft-week events and activities surrounded by a large group of familiar faces.
Early in the summer of 2015, nine-year-old Bedard skated for the B.C. Junior Canucks at the famed Brick Invitational tournament, a week-long event at the West Edmonton Mall that features elite teams from across North America. Bedard led his team in scoring, with nine points in six games. And, incredibly, four of the other 14 skaters from that squad are also ranked among the top 30 from North America for the upcoming draft by NHL Central Scouting – forwards Matthew Wood and Andrew Cristall and defensemen Lukas Dragicevic and Tanner Molendyk. Bedard and Cristall go back the farthest. “That was probably when we were five or six,” said Bedard of their first meeting. “He had the mouthguard with the string coming out of his cage, hanging out. He looked kind of goofy out there, so it was funny. But he was always so good.”
In 2015, Wood, who was born in Lethbridge, Alta., arrived on the scene. “He moved to Nanaimo when he was nine or 10, then came to the Brick tryouts,” Bedard said. “I remember playing against him in that tryout was kind of my first time seeing him.”
BIG-LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
Four years later, Wood also ended up at West Van Academy, playing on the school’s U-15 team. “He ended up living at my house,” Bedard said. “So he came over a little bit later, but, yeah, he’s a really good friend.”
On June 28, Bedard will become just the second player born in British Columbia to be selected first overall in the draft, after Burnaby’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in 2011. With other B.C. players such as Zach Benson and Nico Myatovic also in the mix, 2023 could be the best draft in history for the province.
At the CHL’s Top Prospects Game in January, Daniel and Henrik Sedin served as honorary coaches. In their draft year, the identical twins both landed on the Vancouver Canucks after then-GM Brian Burke executed a multiple-trade strategy to select them with the second- and third-overall picks.
Today, a move like that would break the internet. But this was 1999. “It was different back then,” said Daniel Sedin. “It is a way bigger deal now than it was back then. We barely spoke to media about it. We just had fun playing hockey back in Sweden, and when draft day came, it was kind of like, ‘It is what it is.’ ”
As a local kid, Bedard has been open about his fandom for the Sedin-era Canucks. Now, the feeling is mutual. “He’s professional, seems like a great person,” said Henrik Sedin. “Down to earth, works hard. He has all the attributes that you need to get to the next level, and that’s on the ice but also off the ice.”
Like the Sedins, Bedard is constantly tested by opponents trying to give him a rough ride. He’s listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, but he’s strong on his skates and not afraid to mix it up. “When I was younger, people were targeting me a lot, trying to hit me and stuff,” he said. “Once hitting actually came along, the ability to push back was something that I took pride in. You don’t want to be pushed around out there. I don’t want to be the biggest hitter or anything but just stand up for myself. When you’re competitive, it just comes naturally, getting in there.”
This season, the arms race started early, as the WHL’s powerhouse organizations swung big deals to load up for a run at both a league title and the Memorial Cup tournament. With Bedard off to another scorching start as the Pats made their first road trip in three years to British Columbia in November, rumors began to swirl that one of those teams would be willing to pay a massive price to add him to their arsenal before the January trade deadline.
Regina coach-GM John Paddock shouted down the idea – loudly. Bedard’s loyalty never wavered. “I felt like we were a contender, so I think it was kind of unfair to just take our team out of that conversation,” he said. “I liked what we’d done in the season and the people that we had, and my time there has been unreal. So I never really had any interest in leaving, and I was pretty happy when that day passed. It was a pretty easy decision.”
"DOWN TO EARTH, WORKS HARD. HE HAS ALL THE ATTRIBUTES THAT YOU NEED TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL" – HENRIK SEDIN
Leading up to the deadline, Bedard was under his brightest spotlight yet, at the World Junior Championship in Halifax. Once again, he rose to the occasion – and beyond. With 23 points in seven games, Bedard shattered the tournament records for draft-eligible players and earned another gold medal with Team Canada, this time with MVP honors as well.
When Bedard left for Team Canada’s training camp in early December, he had 64 points in 28 WHL games. When he returned on Jan. 8, he was still atop the league scoring list, then quickly padded his lead with a six-point game against the Calgary Hitmen and five points against the Saskatoon Blades.
By season’s end, the Pats sat sixth in the Eastern Conference. That set up a first-round playoff date with the Blades, the top-ranked defensive team in the conference. Starting on the road, the Pats took a 2-0 series lead after a pair of six-goal games, putting themselves in position to pull off a dramatic upset. In the end, the favored Blades prevailed, although it took seven games. Dead set on making the most of his playoff opportunity, Bedard had 20 points. “We were disappointed, in my 16-year-old year, that we weren’t able to make it,” he said. “So we were pretty motivated, and our group was pretty resilient. There was a lot of outside noise and everything. For us to put that away shows a lot about our group. We had a really good second half and a really good series. Unfortunately, we lost, but I’m really proud of everyone.”
Like other great players who have come before him, Bedard has made sacrifices to reach his current level – driven by his desire for excellence and his love for the game.
His hometown of North Vancouver is known for its natural beauty and world-class outdoor recreation options. Bedard spends most of his time indoors, on the ice or in the gym. He’s only been skiing a handful of times. He’s not a mountain biker. And he hasn’t hiked much, either, although he’s conquered the notorious Grouse Grind trail “lots,” with a personal best of 39 minutes.
"HE JUST SEEMS TO GET BETTER EVERY YEAR I GO BACK HOME. IT’S GOING TO BE FUN TO SEE HIM IN THE LEAGUE NEXT YEAR"– MATHEW BARZAL
His mother, Melanie, lived with him during his time in Regina. In March, she caused a stir when she told NHL.com that her son has never had fast food and “hasn’t eaten at McDonald’s or anything yet.”
“Yeah, it got blown out of proportion,” Bedard said, making it clear that his diet does not require Nathan MacKinnon-like discipline. A sensitive stomach led him and his mother to make mindful food choices, but he’s no stranger to meals from Subway or, when he was younger, Pirate Paks from White Spot.
It won’t be long before he’s footing his share of the bill for a rookie dinner at a luxe fine-dining restaurant on the NHL circuit. With the exception of Owen Power in 2021, every No. 1 overall pick since 2007 has stepped directly into the NHL.
Barzal, for one, expects Bedard to be ready. “It’s been really cool to see his progression,” he said. “He just seems to get better every year I go back home. It’s going to be fun to see him in the league next year.”
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