Connor Bedard Is The One Who Was Promised, Puts The Entire Country Of Canada On His Back
This kid. This goddamn kid. He is incredible. He is sensational. He is everything he was hyped to be and more.
There might still be a few folks out there who aren't familiar with Connor Bedard. Maybe you're a casual hockey fan who enjoys following your favorite NHL team when they're doing well, but don't follow much of hockey outside of that. But at the very least, you know the names Crosby and Ovechkin and McDavid and probably Auston Matthews as well. I'm finding it harder and harder to believe you won't know the name Connor Bedard in just a few more years.
What Bedard has been able to do so far at these World Juniors is borderline incomprehensible. Beyond the point of "really talented player having a great tournament". The word "great" doesn't seem to do this justice. What we're witnessing is a generational talent making it look like he's playing an entirely different game than his peers. We see it with the way McDavid makes a mockery out of NHL defenseman on a nightly basis. And we're seeing it now with Connor Bedard literally playing in a tournament of his own at the moment at the World Juniors.
At least 10 more points than anybody else in the tournament. Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud were both 1st round picks in last year's NHL Draft. They are both incredible players who have been leading the way for Team USA so far this tournament. Both will go on to have really great NHL careers. Connor Bedard is a full year younger than both of them, and he has as many points as the two of them combined. Again, that's not just a good player having a few really good games. That's a superstar just having the game look and feel so much easier for him than anybody else. And after last night's performance, he's playing this tournament better than anybody in the history of Hockey Canada has ever done before.
One goal to start off the night was all it took to break 3 different Canadian records. Most total goals scored by a Canadian at the World Juniors. Most total points scored by a Canadian at the World Juniors. And most points by a Canadian in a single World Juniors tournament. Think he gives a shit about all those records? Think again, cowboy. Connor Bedard is a hockey guy through and through.
But the rest of us care. And the rest of us wanted to see it happen. The puck dropped just over 6 minutes ago in that game and everybody was waiting to see when Bedard would break all those records. Slovakia had built their entire gameplan around trying to make life as miserable for Bedard as possible. And the kid still showed up less than halfway through the first period to deliver. How often does an entire game actually revolve around one single guy, and then that guy is able to actually clutch up and deliver in the moment? When that game went to overtime you knew there was no other possible outcome than the game ending on the stick of Connor Bedard.
He had like 5 shots in overtime alone. Crazy how he generates chances legitimately every time he's on the ice. And what kind of a maniac do you have to be to see this situation unfolding in front of you and decided that, yup, it's time to end this bitch.
But that's just what Connor Bedard does. Kid wants the puck, and he knows exactly what to do with it when he has his chance.
Sensational moment for a sensational player, and he's onto the next already.
Hard not to love this kid. At this point I think I'm just going to renounce my Flyers fandom and become a fan of whichever team has the lucky pingpong ball in the draft lottery. This sicko goes out and has a historic night at the World Juniors, all the meanwhile the Flyers are going on a 3-game win streak in California to get themselves further away from that 1st overall pick. Makes me sick.
Anyway, USA vs Canada in the semifinals tomorrow. Should be insane.