Did you guess that he’s been scoring goals? You probably should’ve guessed that he’s been scoring goals. Connor Bedard is usually scoring goals.
That trend has continued through the preliminary rounds of the 2024 IIHF World Championships in Czechia, where Bedard is up to five goals in three games for Team Canada.
That fifth goal came during the second period of Canada’s game against Austria on Tuesday afternoon, with a little help from the Austrian goalie:
As Roumeliotis’ tweet mentioned, Bedard is now tied for the tournament lead with those five goals in three games.
Canada tried really, really hard to blow that game against Austria, though:
As for Bedard’s other goals, he scored twice against Denmark on Sunday:
And he also scored twice against Great Britain on Saturday:
Bedard’s next opportunity to add to his tournament-leading five goals will be on Thursday when Canada faces Norway at 1:20 p.m. CT.
No one’s going to confuse the defenses of Denmark, Austria or Great Britain with the 2013 Blackhawks, but there’s still something satisfying about watching this teenager — he turns NINETEEN in July — head over to an international tournament with rosters comprised of mostly fully-grown, adult men and immediately assert himself as the best player on the ice by a fairly substantial margin.
But it’ll be even more satisfying when the goals he scores in May are during playoff games at the United Center.
Elsewhere in the tournament, Seth Jones has three assists in three games for Team USA, while Alex Vlasic one assist. Petr Mrazek has backstopped one win for tournament hosts Czechia, while Philipp Kurashev has two assists for Switzerland, although he did score a game-winner in the shootout: