Bedard living hockey teen dream at 16

VANCOUVER — Drew Sim didn’t know what to make of the Connor Bedard hype initially. The opening few minutes of their first practice together changed that.

We’re now 12 months out from the 2023 NHL Draft, the one in which Bedard, a 16-year-old Regina Pats centre from North Vancouver, has been the runaway favourite to go first overall for some time.

Hockey Canada granted Bedard exceptional player status in March 2020, which meant that he could play major junior hockey on a full-time basis a season earlier than normal, seeing regular duty as a 15-yearold in the 2020-21 campaign. Bedard was the seventh player from across Canada to ever receive the distinction, following the ballyhooed likes of Connor Mcdavid, John Tavares and Aaron Ekblad.

Sim knew all of this when the Vancouver Giants traded him to the Pats on Oct. 13, 2021. The goaltender had an idea of Bedard’s skill set from the various highlight clips he had seen on television and the internet.

Sim remembers that first shot from Bedard in that first practice, how quickly he released it and how much he was able to get on it. And he remembers Bedard being able to replicate that time and time again.

“I’ve never faced someone able to shoot the puck the way he can,” Sim said. “He shoots it from inside. He shoots it from outside. He shoots with his hands in close to his body and his hands away from his body. He shoots it any way you can think of and he always gets it away quickly and with something on it. It’s a rocket every time.

“And it’s not just shooting. I don’t think there’s anything he can’t do. The way he handles the puck, some of the passes he can make ... it’s ridiculous. You could put him out there at a high-end skill session for pro guys and he wouldn’t look out of place.

“I wasn’t with the team for the first part of the year, so I wasn’t sure if the hype was true or not. It’s true.”

SEVENTH FOR CANADA AT AGE 16

Bedard, who’s trying to become the first B.C. product to go first overall in the NHL Draft since the Edmonton Oilers took Ryan Nugent Hopkins with the opening pick of 2011, became just the seventh player to suit up for Team Canada at the world juniors as a 16-year-old when he made the squad this past winter. Consider the others on that list for moment: Wayne Gretzky (1978), Eric Lindros (1989), Jason Spezza (2000), Jay Bouwmeester (2000), Sidney Crosby (2004) and Mcdavid

(2014).

“I don’t know. I don’t think about that too much,” Bedard said when asked if he feels 16 years of age. “I think in most people’s minds, you’re just a hockey player.”

PLAYED IN SWEDEN

When the COVID-19 pandemic kept the 2020-21 WHL season from starting on time, Bedard went to play in Sweden. Older sister Maddie, 19, rode shotgun on the trip.

When the WHL got going, Bedard joined the Pats and put up 12 goals and 28 points in 15 games during the COVID19 abbreviated campaign. He missed the Pats’ final nine games playing with the Canadian under-18 side.

This past season, he finished fourth in the WHL in points (100), trailing a 20-year-old — Vancouver Canucks free-agent signee Arshdeep Bains led the way with 112 points for the Red Deer Rebels — as well as a 19-year-old Ben King (105) of Red Deer and 18-year-old Logan Stankoven (104) of the Kamloops Blazers.

The five-foot-nine, 181pound, right-handed shooting Bedard was second in goals (51), one in back of King. He’s the youngest player to break the 50-goal mark in league history and the fourth 16-yearold to get to 100 points.