North Vancouver’s Connor Bedard earned another nifty honour this week as he was named the McSweeney’s WHL Player of the Month despite appearing in only seven games in January.
Bedard missed more than a week of play with the Regina Pats at the start of January as he was busy helping Team Canada win gold, all while smashing longstanding national records, at the world junior championships. But Bedard wasn’t going to let his world juniors MVP appearance stop him from earning WHL honours as well, as he proceeded to score a ridiculous 24 points in seven January games with the Pats.
The 17-year-old scored three hat tricks in those seven games, including a four-goal, two assist performance against Calgary Jan. 8 in his first WHL game following the world juniors. He racked up hat tricks against Saskatoon, Jan. 13, and Medicine Hat, Jan. 29, and has scored at least one point in 35 straight WHL games since being held off the scoreboard in the first game of the season. Bedard is also on an 11-game goal-scoring streak that dates back to Nov. 30.
As of Feb. 2, Bedard had collected 90 points in 36 games this season with the Pats, topping the next highest player in the WHL points standing by 21 despite missing nearly a month of play for national team duty. He’s collected 107 goals and 111 assists for 218 points in 113 career games with the Pats.
Bedard, who suited up for the North Shore Winter Club, North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association and the West Van Warriors hockey academy as a youth player, is widely expected to be the first overall pick in the NHL entry draft this summer.
