Connor Bedard Became The First 16-Year-Old To Score A Hat Trick At The World Juniors Since A Guy Named Wayne Gretzky. Ever Heard Of 'Em?
Codie McLachlan. Getty Images.Canada always has the most stacked roster heading into the World Juniors every year. Mostly it's a bunch of 18 and 19-year-old 1st round draft picks who are just one injury away from getting called up to the NHL and never looking back after that. There are usually one or two 17-year-olds who crack the lineup and will most likely be top 5 picks in the upcoming draft. But rarely does a kid who is 2-years away from even being draft eligible crack the lineup.
Wayne Gretzky. Eric Lindros. Jason Spezza. Jay Bouwmeester. Sidney Crosby. Connor McDavid.
Those are the only guys who ever made the cut for Team Canada as 16-year-olds. And now there is Connor Bedard. And last night this maniac did something that only one other player has ever done before. Maybe you've heard of him before.
Granted, it was against Austria. In any other year there is a good chance that Austria isn't even in the tournament right now. They finished last in their group at last year's tournament and most likely would have been relegated to a lower division this year. But because of COVID, there was no relegation round last year just as there won't be any relegation this year. Doesn't matter. Because what Connor Bedard did last night was show the world exactly what we've been waiting to see. That the next one is on the way. And he added an extra goal for good measure.
The 2023 Draft is going to be silly. Think about how loaded the 2003 NHL Draft was but then add Crosby and Ovechkin to the top.
Bedard with 4 goals. Michkov with 3. And both of these kids are out here dangling defenders to death with zero hesitation or remorse.
The kids are alright.
In other news, the IIHF has officially made my list after forcing USA to forfeit their game yesterday against Switzerland. This will forever be remembered as a Mickey Mouse tournament if a 1-0 forfeit to the Swiss stands in the way of USA defending their gold medal. They can still get out of the preliminary round at the top of Group B but now they need a couple of huge regulation wins against Sweden and Russia. Let the boys play.
Here's the schedule for today as of now. But who knows how cowardly the IIHF will be over the next few hours.
Hopefully I'll see everyone at the live blog for USA vs Sweden. Sure would hate for a few cases of the sniffles to rob hockey fans of that matchup.