Pats’ Bedard named CHL player of the year

Regina Pats captain Connor Bedard collected more hardware Saturday.

The 17-year-old centre was named the Canadian Hockey League’s player of the year, top draft prospect and top scorer.

Bedard is the first Pats player to win the CHL’s top player award since Jordan Eberle earned the honour in the 2009-10 season. Bedard is the fourth Regina player to be named the major-junior league’s most valuable player, joining Eberle, Doug Wickenheiser (1979-80) and Ed Staniowski (1974-75).

“It’s pretty exciting, for sure,” Bedard told reporters after the awards ceremony in Kamloops, site of the Memorial Cup tournament. “A lot of cool names in the past have won this award.

“For me, it’s a team celebration as well. There’s always a lot of people who you’re playing with who are helping you. That’s an exciting part about it.”

WATCH | @WHLPats captain Connor Bedard meets the media after being named the CHL David Branch Player of the Year, Top Scorer and Top Draft Prospect. pic.twitter.com/ISU3DL8Huv

— The WHL (@TheWHL) June 3, 2023

Bedard is the first Pat since Sam Steel (2016-17) to be the CHL’s leading scorer, and the first Regina player ever to be named the league’s top draft prospect.

The product of North Vancouver, B.C., has been the presumptive top pick in the NHL draft all season. The Chicago Blackhawks hold the first pick in the June 28 draft.

Bedard led the CHL in goals (71), points (143), goals per game (1.24) and points per game (2.51) during the regular season and finished tied for fifth in assists (72). He had the longest point-scoring streak in the CHL in 2022-23, scoring 44 goals and adding 46 assists during a 35-game string.

The first player granted exceptional status in the WHL, he was the first player in the league to put up 140 or more points in a regular season in 27 years.

In 134 career regular-season games with the Pats, Bedard has recorded 134 goals and 271 points.

“When you’re granted the status that he was granted, that signals something,” Pats head coach-GM John Paddock said in a media release. “It means something special, but you have to go out and prove it and he clearly has.

“I don’t know what another 50 or 60 points would have done but I’m guessing he would have moved into the top 10 (in franchise scoring) over his three years here.”

After being the first pick in the 2020 bantam draft, Bedard was named the WHL’s rookie of the year in his first season with Regina. This season, he was named the WHL’s most valuable player.

He also was named the MVP of the 2023 world junior hockey championship after setting numerous Canadian and tournament scoring records while helping Canada win its second straight gold medal.