Connor Bedard makes a world of difference to Regina Pats

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World juniors star Connor Bedard didn't take very long to make an impact during his first home game with the Regina Pats since Nov. 12.

Playing at the Brandt Centre for the first time in 57 days, Connor Bedard didn’t take very long to make an impact in his return to the Regina Pats‘ lineup.

Bedard, who starred for the gold-medal-winning Canadian team at the 2023 world junior hockey championship, figured all six Pats goals — scoring four of them, including two while short-handed — on Sunday as they posted a 6-2 WHL victory over the Calgary Hitmen before a season-high crowd of 4,761.

“It was nice,” Bedard said after his first home game since Nov. 12. “I missed it. It’s my favourite rink.

“It has been a couple of months since I’ve been able to play here and what a turnout for us tonight. It was energetic and there were a lot of people here, so it was exciting for us. We’re looking forward to continuing that.”

The six-point game was Bedard’s first in 106 games as a Pat. He had five three-point games leading up to the victory against Calgary.

“For myself, I’m not trying put a points total out there,” he said. “I’m trying to go and play. Obviously, I want to get points and I want to produce. When I’m out there and I have the puck, I want to make plays and I want to be creative, but that doesn’t always turn into points.

“I just want to play my game. If the points are going, that’s great, too.”

For the second time, Bedard had four goals in his first game with the Pats in a new year. He previously struck for four goals on Jan. 1, 2022 against the Moose Jaw Warriors, scoring the overtime winner as Regina prevailed 7-6. On both occasions, he was playing his first game with the Pats since returning from the world juniors.

Bedard has nine multi-goal games this season and 26 in total.

The 17-year-old Bedard opened the scoring Sunday with a power-play goal at 8:42 of the first period. In the process, he extended his point-scoring streak to 28 games.

He then assisted on second-period power-play tallies by Alex Suzdalev and Tanner Howe.

Calgary reduced the Pats’ lead to 3-1 when Jacob Wright scored at 13:19 of the second period.

Bedard scored again at 3:31 of the third period to put the Pats ahead 4-1.

Carson Wetsch answered for the Hitmen at 5:22, but Bedard completed his hat trick with a short-handed breakaway goal just 34 seconds later. Then came his second successive short-handed goal, at 10:03.

Drew Sim was strong in goal for the Pats, making 42 saves. Calgary’s Ethan Buenaventura stopped 21 shots.

The Pats improved their record to 19-19-1-1. Calgary dropped to 21-12-3-1.

Bedard had 13 shots on goal — or nearly half or the Pats’ total. He tied his career high in that category, having previously registering 13 shots in the aforementioned New Year’s Day 2022 game against Moose Jaw.

He has hit double digits in shots five times this season, the previous high for 2022-23 being 11.

Without Bedard, the Pats were 4-7-0-0. They had suffered six losses in a seven-game span, during which they were outscored 36-11, before rebounding Sunday with Bedard once again in his trademark No. 98 jersey.

Bedard had not played a home game since Nov. 12, when Regina defeated the visiting Red Deer Rebels 6-2. The Pats then embarked on an extended road swing while the 2022 Grey Cup and Canadian Western Agribition were held in Regina. Then he was off to the world junior selection camp.

Twenty-nine per cent of the Pats’ regular-season schedule elapsed between home games that included Bedard.

Despite missing 11 WHL games while with the world junior team, Bedard maintained his lead in the WHL’s scoring race. After Sunday, he has 70 points (including 31 goals) in 29 games.

Red Deer’s Kai Uchacz leads the league in goals, with 33. Bedard, who is next in line, has played in nine fewer games than Uchacz.

Regina has won six of its past seven games with Bedard in the lineup, outscoring the opposition 40-24 along the way. The shots-on-goal total was a source of concern to Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock, as pleased as he is to see Bedard back.

“Clearly, he was Connor, but we have a lot of work to do this week with the rest of the players,” Paddock said.

“(Bedard) clearly made an impact and a difference, but he didn’t really help the rest of the

The Pats are to return to action Friday against the Saskatoon Blades before playing host to the Portland Winterhawks the following evening. Both games are set for 7 p.m., at the Brandt Centre.

Defenceman Stanislav Svozil, who captained Czechia at the world juniors, is expected to be back in the Pats’ lineup next weekend.

Bedard, meanwhile, will receive a respite before returning to practice later in the week.

“He’s going to stay away from the rink here for at least two days, if not three days,” Paddock said. “He needs to get some rest now and get away from it a little bit.”

rvanstone@postmedia.com

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