sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

Connor Bedard (born July 17, 2005) is a Canadian junior ice hockey centre for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League (WHL).[1] Bedard was selected by the Regina Pats first overall in the WHL Bantam Draft in 2020 as the first WHL player of exceptional status.[2] Bedard will be eligible for the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.[1]

Connor Bedard
Bedard at the 2022 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
Born	(2005-07-17) July 17, 2005 (age 17) North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height	5 ft 10 in (178 cm)
Weight	182 lb (83 kg; 13 st 0 lb)
Position	Centre
Shoots	Right
WHL team	Regina Pats
NHL Draft	Eligible 2023
Playing career	TBD–present

Playing career

In 2018, Bedard emerged as a young hockey prospect, being named "the future of hockey" in an article by The Hockey News.[3] Bedard played minor hockey with West Vancouver Academy Prep of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League.[1] While playing with this school's U15 and U18 teams, Bedard led the league in goals and points and was named Most Valuable Player both years.[1]

In March 2020, Bedard was granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada,[4][5] and in the WHL Bantam Draft in 2020, Bedard was selected first overall by the Regina Pats as the first ever Western Hockey League (WHL) player of exceptional status.[6][7][8] In September 2020, Bedard was loaned to the HV71 junior hockey system, where he played until the WHL returned to play for its 2020–21 season beginning in March 2021.[9][10] As a rookie in the WHL, Bedard scored 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in just 15 games before leaving for the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships, as a result of which he was named the Western Hockey League's East Division rookie of the year and subsequently awarded the Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy as the WHL's rookie of the year.[11][12]

During the 2021–22 WHL season, Bedard became the youngest player ever to score 50 or more goals in a season, managing his 50th and 51st goals in the last game of the regular season.[13] He finished the year with 51 goals and 49 assists for an even 100 points, ranking second in the WHL in goals and fourth in points. He was only the third 16-year-old to manage a 100-point season in the WHL, and the first to do so in the 21st century.[14] As he attended the 2022 NHL Entry Draft as an observer, Bedard was profiled in The New York Times as "the most exciting future NHL player attending this week’s draft."[15]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Junior Championships
	2022 Canada
World U18 Championships
	2021 United States

In April and May 2021, Bedard played for the Canada men's national under-18 ice hockey team in the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships in Frisco, Texas, winning a gold medal, tying for second in the tournament in points and earning a spot on the media all-star team.

On December 12, 2021, Bedard became the seventh 16-year-old to be selected by Team Canada for the World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.[16] Initially the thirteenth forward in the lineup, by the end of the team's first game he had been elevated to the top six. Bedard scored four goals in an 11–2 victory over Team Austria, breaking Wayne Gretzky's 44-year-old record for most goals by a 16-year-old at the championships, and tying the overall Team Canada record for most goals in a single World Junior game.[17] The spread of the Omicron variant thereafter forced the suspension of the World Junior Championships. It was subsequently announced that the event would be rebooted in August of 2022.[18][19]

On April 18, 2022, Bedard was named to the Canadian team for the 2022 IIHF World U18 Championships, the only returning player from the previous year's championship team.[20][21] He scored a hat trick in the second game of the tournament, an 8–3 victory over Team Germany, breaking former teammate Shane Wright's record for Team Canada goal-scoring at the U18 Championships, and simultaneously breaking Mathew Barzal's Team Canada points record.[22] Team Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals following a 6–5 overtime loss to Team Finland, with Bedard scoring two goals in the game.[21] Later in the summer, at the revived World Junior Championships, Bedard again played for Team Canada, attracting considerable attention for his shot.[23][24] He recorded four goals and four assists over the course of the seven-game tournament, winning gold with Team Canada.[25]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2018–19	West Van Academy Prep	CSSHL U15		30	64	24	88	22		4	5	2	7	2
2019–20	West Van Academy Prep	CSSHL U18		36	43	41	84	32		1	1	1	2	0
2020–21	HV71 J18	J18 Region		1	1	1	2	0		―	―	―	―	―
2020–21	HV71 J20	J20 National		4	2	2	4	0		―	―	―	―	―
2020–21	Regina Pats	WHL		15	12	16	28	6		―	―	―	―	―
2021–22	Regina Pats	WHL		62	51	49	100	42		―	―	―	―	―
WHL totals				77	63	65	128	48		―	―	―	―	―

International

Year	Team	Event	Result		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2021	Canada	U18			7	7	7	14	2
2022	Canada	U18	5th		4	6	1	7	4
2022	Canada	WJC			7	4	4	8	2
Junior totals					18	17	12	29	8

Awards and honours

Honours	Year
CSSHL U15 Most Valuable Player	2019	[1]
CSSHL U18 Most Valuable Player	2020	[1]
WHL Exceptional Player Status	2020	[2]
Jim Piggott Memorial Trophy	2021	[11]

References

External links

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database

---