The bright lights of the NHL are calling for Connor Bedard. But in the city he leaves behind, his impact won’t soon be forgotten. An inside look at the prairie journey that shaped one of the most promising prospects the game’s ever seen. (SachdevaSonny)
The bright lights of the big leagues are calling for Connor Bedard. But in the city he leaves behind, his impact won’t soon be forgotten.t’s the wave of minor movement that washes through the stands every time Connor Bedard gets hold of the puck that shows you, in the simplest, purest of ways, the impact he’s had on this city. It’s the knowing looks in the crowd, the held breath, the shifting in preparation to jump out of a seat. The signs fans here have been astonished by No.
He’s deep in his own zone, near the left faceoff dot, with open ice in front of him. For most in this situation, those extra feet of space are an invitation for a safe clear. For Bedard, they’re a runway. He pivots and takes off, pushing Ice defenders back, scanning as he presses up the right side of the ice and crosses into Winnipeg’s zone. He cuts to his left. A streaking teammate, Tanner Howe, now beside him, takes the cue and cuts right.
Behind me, a young fan and his father are on their feet. When they settle, the boy muses on their talisman’s talent. “You know what, Dad? I would love to see Connor Bedard versus Connor McDavid, one-on-one,” he says. “Just to see who would score first.”Barring something unimaginable, Bedard has played his last game as a Regina Pat. Later this week, it’s all-but-certain the generational pivot will be selected with the No. 1 pick at the 2023 NHL Draft, and begin a new life in Chicago.
Jon Calvano first met Bedard when the phenom was five years old. The veteran coach is a mainstay in North Vancouver, having worked with plenty of marquee NHLers who’ve come out of B.C. over the past couple of decades. “Like most five-year-olds, he was really excited about playing hockey,” the coach remembers. “You know, just a young kid that was really excited to play, and learn the game, and always wanted to get better. And hated losing.
It was when Bedard hit double digits that the weight of his potential crystallized for Calvano, though. “The summer of 2015, I’d say it was about August — he would’ve just turned 10 — I brought him out with a few of my younger pros and NHL guys, just to kind of skate and be around those players,” the coach remembers. “There was no shyness in Connor, jumping into a drill with them or giving them a pass, or any of that.
“You know, if you go back in time, there’s on average one or two B.C. kids per birth year that really can play in the NHL. Obviously, Connor is in that fast track to be the one, to not only play but potentially do some great things.” The Halloween vibe of his new home barn was hardly the only thing that was different about Bedard’s first foray into the WHL. His debut game for the Pats came a year to the day after the COVID-19 pandemic forced the WHL to suspend, and ultimately cancel, its 2019-20 season. The league returned for what was to be Bedard’s rookie year in 2020-21, but not in a form recognizable to the junior hockey faithful. Instead of 68 games, teams played just 24.
It took 25 minutes for Bedard to make good on the hype; for him to take the puck out behind his own net, fly end-to-end, float past a defender, and wire home“It was a little bit of a blur, but I remember it — I was super excited,” Bedard says. “You know, to get your first — I was pretty happy it was in that game, just to kind of get it out of the way and not have to think about it. I was really stoked.
“He’s exceptional,” says Brennan Othmann, a Team Canada teammate of Bedard’s who the New York Rangers selected 16overall in 2021. “His shot’s just super elite — we all talk about it, all the time. … He completely pulls that stick out as far as he can and then drags it in, which is super impressive. I’ve never seen anyone else do it like that. I know a lot of guys with good shots, but that guy can really shoot the puck.
Says 2020 third-round Detroit Red Wings pick, defenceman Donovan Sebrango, who had to line up opposite Bedard during Team Canada practices: “I mean, he’s a special player. I don’t think you can really find a weakness to his game.” “Hockey’s massive on the prairies. And obviously when you introduce a guy like Connor Bedard here, people are going to want to go watch him play.”The city has seen elite talents in Pats jerseys before, it’s seen Stanley Cup champions return home with the trophy. But the past few years have felt different, eclipsing anything Liskowich has ever seen in Regina.
Looking ahead to the maelstrom that will soon come for Bedard, when he moves Stateside to a city 10 times Regina’s size and steps into the chaos of the NHL as a first-overall saviour, there might not have been a better junior-hockey spot for the teenager to land than Regina — a city that gave him enough space to become what he’d hoped, and enough passion to spur him on as he did.
“There is no way Bedard’s here!” one of the kids yelped in disbelief, he and his mates gathering by the boards and watching intently as each Pat stepped off the bus, before finally seeing the one they were waiting for. The weight of those moments, on that stage, wasn’t lost on Bedard himself. “You know, just even in practice, putting on that jersey, looking down and seeing the Canada crest was a special memory,” he says. “Just being able to be with those guys, obviously the best players in the world, and win with them has been unreal.”And then he went home, and it all got even wilder. His first game back in Regina, Bedard stacked four goals and a pair of assists on the Calgary Hitmen.
Back in that room buried in the Brandt Centre, months before the draft that will make Bedard the new face of hockey in Chicago, the end of our conversation gives me that same sense of the teenager. That despite his meteoric ascent, he may still be the quiet, conscientious kid he was when Calvano first met him more than a decade ago.
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