Bredo centre of attention for Bears
It’s no secret the University of Alberta Golden Bears have a rich history and winning tradition. You can point to many factors why they are perennial national championship contenders.
One small example would be having a player like Dylan Bredo.
The fourth-year defenceman missed five weeks to injury this season and made his return to the lineup just in time for the playoffs, but he wasn’t patrolling the blue line.
The Bears were banged up at forward and one of the conference’s best two-way defenceman was asked to step in and play centre.
He did question it. Bredo hadn’t played forward in five years, since his 19-year-old season in junior, but he was willing to help his team out anywhere they needed him.
And he played a big part in helping the Bears clinch their 27th Canada West and 54th overall conference title in program history with a series sweep on the weekend — 5-2 and 5-1 wins — against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
Bredo will likely continue to play up front with linemates Taylor Cooper and Jayden Hart when Alberta heads to the 2018 University Cup in Fredericton, N.B. March 15-18.
“We always talk about doing your part. What part can you play in the success of the team? And it shows Dylan’s character,” said Bears head coach Serge Lajoie. "He didn’t question it once. I told him we need him at forward and his response was, I just want to play.
“If we as coaches hadn’t realized how valuable he is to the program, we do now. He’s probably the most versatile player I’ve ever coached.”
In the series against Saskatchewan, Bredo was relied on for many key defensive-zone faceoffs, he was part of a strong penalty-killing group that silenced a potent Huskies power play.
He played the point on the Bears man-advantage and, in Game 2, he also spent some shifts playing on the wing. He was doing a little bit of everything.
“He has arguably been our best player in these playoffs,” said Lajoie. “We admire his willingness to show leadership. You can’t have success as a team without players accepting their role and everyone acknowledging the work those guys do.”
Alberta can boast an incredible amount of speed and skill and, offensively, they have many big weapons — but when you look at the Bears scoring leaders: Luke Philp, Trevor Cox, Steven Owre, Tyson Baillie, Cole Sanford and Brandon Magee, all of them are in their first or second year.
Veterans like Bredo and captain Riley Kieser, Stephane Legault and D -men Ryan Rehill and Graeme Craig are considered ‘glue guys’ who provide so much leadership to the Bears program.
The Bears aren’t perennial national championship contenders without them.
Bredo has been one of the Bears top defenceman in his four-year university career, but he’s showing that he can be valuable up front too.
He’s fit perfectly with Hart and Cooper as a gritty and energy line for the Bears.
“I wanted to get back into the lineup, and with this possibly being my final year, I wanted to be able to contribute any way I could towards helping our team win a national championship,” said Bredo. “I won a (national) championship in my first year here and I saw firsthand some of our older guys step up, take on different roles when called upon. As you grow older you learn how important that is. We have so many great players and you have to find a role.”
If this is indeed Bredo’s final year with the Bears, he surely didn’t envision playing forward in the final month of the season as Alberta chases another national title, but he will do anything to help cap off his career as a national champion.
“If this is my last year, I would be very happy. We’ve had an unbelievable season so far. By no means are we done," said Bredo. “I’m going to make sure at nationals we give it everything we’ve got." BEARS FACE RAMS: The Golden Bears will enter the Final 8 basketball national championship in Halifax, N.S. this week as the No. 4 seed. They will face No. 5-ranked Ryerson Rams in their tourney opener on Thursday (3 p.m.). BEARS CLINCH SEED: Golden Bears volleyball is headed back to nationals after sweeping their best-of-three series over the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds on Saturday with a 3-1 victory (20-25, 25-23, 25-20, 2523). Alberta will face the Trinity Western University Spartans for the Canada West championship this weekend.
Meanwhile, the volleyball Pandas were swept by the University of Calgary Dinos in their Canada West semifinal series after losing in four sets (26-24, 27-29, 24-26, 22-25) on Saturday. Despite the loss, Alberta still qualified for nationals later this month.