Connor Bedard, the likely first overall choice in the 2023 NHL draft, is focused on family as he smashes records at the World Juniors.
Connor has worn sweater No. 98 — his number with Regina — since his early days in minor hockey.“My first time going out on the ice was just skating,” he said. “I didn’t really like it at first.”“Connor went to skating lessons with his sister,” Tom said, referencing his daughter Madisen. “There was no equipment. He didn’t want to do it. But once he got a stick, he seemed to take to it.
Another staple was the backyard net. On many a day, Connor could also be found firing pucks from every conceivable angle. It is not unusual, to this day, for him to take hundreds of shots in one session. “Melanie has worked harder than me — quite a bit harder. I haven’t met anyone like Melanie as far as a work ethic — and I’ve been around a lot of hard workers.”Photo by Photo courtesy Melanie Bedard
“For my dad, it’s getting up at three o’clock in the morning and working a tough job and coming back to drive me to practice.“My sister is probably my biggest role model with everything she does and how well she handles everything.”Her bond with Connor is such that she joined him in the fall of 2020 when he played hockey in Sweden, at a time when the start of his first WHL season was delayed due to COVID-19.
The strength of the family was tested in April of 2021 when Garth Bedard — Tom’s father — was killed in a car accident near Sicamous, B.C. “He is definitely who I play for now,” he told the Regina Leader-Post’s Greg Harder after the game, “and will for the rest of my life.”Garth Bedard would have been 75 this past Oct. 30. That morning, Connor checked in with his grandmother Lynn, who had been married to Garth for nearly 55 years.
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