Bedard has special guests for morning skate before game at Rogers

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North Vancouver phenom Connor Bedard allowed himself to admit to being a tad nostalgic ahead of his first NHL game at Rogers Arena. 

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There was a minor hockey team from North Shore Winter Club clad in their jerseys checking out Bedard and his Chicago Blackhawks teammates at their morning skate Saturday morning in preparation for their matchup there with the Vancouver Canucks this evening. Bedard, 19, who’s a NSWC product, took notice.

“That’s cool,” Bedard said. “You put yourself in those shoes when the NHL was just a dream and not a real reality. It’s fun to see the excitement of people … not just for myself but for the game and the league that we’re in.

“It’s fun to look back and relieve those moments, for sure.” 

Bedard was the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft and is in his second season with Chicago. He was supposed to make his inaugural Rogers Arena appearance with the Blackhawks last season in a Jan. 20 game against Vancouver, but broke his jaw in a Jan. 5 contest against the New Jerseys Devils on a bodycheck. 

The Blackhawks didn’t play Friday and Bedard spent the day hanging out at his family’s North Vancouver home.

Bedard didn’t say after the morning skate today how many friends and family he would have in attendance for the game tonight. He said with a smile that “people do come out the woodwork a little bit trying to get tickets and stuff.” 

He joked to reporters earlier in the week that he’d “be paying to play for a night. But it’ll be good to have some people there.” 

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On Saturday, he also busted out the “just another game,” a couple of times, but that’s on brand for him. He’s become adept with downplaying individual hype. He’s been getting attention for years, with the Hockey News referring to him as “the future of hockey,” in a headline when he was just 13. He was the first player granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada to play in the WHL full time as a 15-year-old. He follows the likes of Connor McDavid and John Tavares, who had got a chance to start playing major junior a full season early in the OHL.

Fans might remember Bedard telling a TSN reporter “I don’t want to talk about myself right now … We just won the biggest tournament in the world and, man, I love this team, this country,” after Team Canada captured the world junior title in January 2023 in Halifax.

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Undoubtedly also at play is the fact that Chicago is off to a modest start, carrying a 6-10-1 record into the game with Vancouver. They’ve lost three of four coming in, including a 3-1 loss Thursday in Seattle.

Coach Luke Richardson announced Saturday morning that No. 1 defenceman Seth Jones (foot) was going on the injured list and veteran winger Taylor Hall was going to be a healthy scratch against the Canucks.

Bedard, meanwhile, hasn’t scored in eight games ahead of the Vancouver matchup. He was at three goals and 13 points in 17 games heading into the night. He had 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games last season on his way to winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. 

“I think he’s a pretty calm person and pretty even keeled,” Richardson said when asked if Bedard was feeling added pressure right now. “I think he’s pretty confident in himself and we are (too). We know he’s going to break out one of these games.

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“I don’t think he’s frustrated. I don’t really see it yet. I’m sure he wants to do well, as everyone does, and we want him to do well. Like I said, it will be one of those times it just happens and it’ll be subtle. It doesn’t have to be spectacular. It just has to go in and then a player starts feeling good and you start seeing him get a little bit more electric.”

Bedard added: “I feel the same as at any other game. For family and friends, they get to watch and see me play here. And I always want to have all kinds of production, but there’s no extra pressure.” 

Bedard said the only time he skated at Rogers Arena before was at a camp when he was “four or five years old.” 

“It was the first time being on NHL ice. I don’t remember it that well,” Bedard said. 

@SteveEwen

SEwen@postmedia.com

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