Connor Bedard composed on- and off-ice in thrilling hockey fans (2023)

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Connor Bedard stood tall Wednesday, fielding a wide array of questions from the Calgary media like a seasoned pro.

He’s not one yet, of course — that adventure, no doubt, begins next year as the projected consensus top pick in the 2023 NHL Draft — but he both talks the talk and skates the skate.

Yes … the 17-year-old wunderkind is calm, cool and collected …

Both on and off the ice.

‘Connor, what’s it like playing in sold-out buildings every night?’

‘Connor, where do you think you can improve your game?’

‘Connor, what would it mean to be chosen first overall in the 2023 NHL Draft?’

“You ask a lot of guys throughout the league, and they all want that,” said Bedard of the draft query. “Obviously, that would be pretty special. Right now, it’s pretty far away, so I’m not thinking about that. But obviously, it would be pretty cool.

“Obviously, it’s a big year …” he continued. “When you’re in the moment, it’s not something you’re thinking about too much. You’re just trying to play. I’m just trying to take it day by day and focus on the present and not think about the future too much.”

His future is all that most around him talk about.

Hard not to when he appears to be that next can’t-miss kid, that next generational talent.

At such a young age, Bedard is already being compared to Wayne and Mario and the ‘other Connor’.

A total of 17,223 hockey fans — some 600 more than were at the annual Teddy Bear Toss — packed the Scotiabank Saddledome to get a first-hand look-see at that kind of talent Wednesday night when Bedard and the Regina Pats came to the city to play the host Calgary Hitmen.

“It seems like there’s a certain level of elite players who are … so bought in, so focused, so driven or pay so much attention to detail,” said Pats GM/head coach John Paddock, a former bench boss in the NHL. “For me, that’s him. He’s able to shut out the outside noise for the most part and be himself.

“I see him every day. The best way to say it is there hasn’t been any indication he’s not going to be what everybody talks about. He’s been under the microscope for quite a while, but clearly, it’s gotten bigger as the stages get bigger and he gets a little bit older.”

And he gets better …

Most notably during the holidays, where he put on a clinic against the world’s best puck phenoms. And now back in the WHL, where he’s on an absolute tear these days.

“When you get to be with all those guys — obviously the best players in the world — it always helps, because you can learn so much, whether that’s on the ice or off the ice,” said Bedard of his world juniors experience. “You can always learn a lot, and I think I was able to do that.

“You’re seeing these guys and what they can do and playing with them. You can always learn stuff, and I think that’s been good for my game.”

His stats since bear that out.

Coming into the Dome, Bedard has an eye-popping 16 goals and 24 points in his seven games since returning from leading Canada to gold at the world juniors.

All totalled, the native of North Vancouver, B.C., had recorded 88 points, including 43 goals, in 35 games on the WHL season. The only game he hasn’t produced point in was the very first of the schedule.

On Wednesday against the Hitmen, he added to that with a goal and an assist in a pivotal 6-5 shootout win for the WHL’s Eastern Conference playoff race. Of course, it was Bedard with the shootout winner after a key assist late in regulation with the heroics for the seventh-place Pats (23-21-1-1) that moved them within four points of the sixth-spot Hitmen (23-17-5-2) in the standings.

The fans on hand were all about eyeballing Bedard when they weren’t cheering on goals.

Bedard did his best to oblige with his usual assortment of pretty passes and dekes and dangles, including one that Hitmen goaltender Brayden Peters stopped to thwart a second-period score. The solid goalie also came up glove-clutch against the phenom in overtime. But he got the ‘tender with a sweet forehand-backhand-forehand move for the only goal of the shootout.

Indeed, Bedard had the crowd singing his praises with ‘ooohs’ and awwws’.

His brilliance paid off in the first frame, when he drew the Pats even with a laser-beam top-corner wrister to the far side from the bottom of the right-wing circle. It was a beauty goal that got a big rise out of the excited crowd. Then came the late heroics with a shot — after showing patience — that created a scramble for the tying goal in the final minute. And finally the winner in the penalty-shot session.

And he seemed dangerous every time he touched the puck, although the Hitmen did a yeoman’s job defensively to limit him to two points on the evening — a rarity these days, to be sure.

“I guess if it’s possible, he’s even more focused,” said Paddock with a chuckle. “He’s determined to play a playoff game for us. That’s the biggest driver for him right now.”

That and a ‘Great One/Next One’ sense of forever trying to improve his game while trying to be that next great leader.

“We’ve still got a lot of games left,” said Bedard, who is one of few 17-year-old captains in the junior ranks. “It’s a pretty tight race for those few spots in the playoffs, and we’ve got a lot to focus on. And for me on a personal level, I’ve got to prove myself — that’s kind of my mentality. Take it day by day and try to improve every game.”

Oh … really?

“You can say it’s everything,” continued Bedard when asked what areas he might need to dare improve on. “But for me, it’s a complete game and becoming a guy you can trust in all situations. I think that’s something you can learn a bit with experience.”

The atmosphere at the jam-packed Dome, the most people he’s ever played in front of for a game? Well … that helped.

“It’s been awesome for our whole group — we’ve had a lot of fun with the sold-out crowds and the energy,” Bedard said. “You feel it, and you hear it, and it brings some extra energy in you. Obviously on the road, they don’t like you as much, which is fun. And at home, they’re cheering for you. Either way, you get fired up for it.”

Yeah … it’s fun alright, even when he’s in the hot seat.

“It’s been pretty crazy with you guys bugging me all the time,” added Bedard with a chuckle to the media throng. “No … it’s a lot of fun, I think, when people want to talk to me. I’m just a guy who wants to play hockey, and you guys asking me questions is pretty cool.”

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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