WHL START DATE UP IN AIR
Pats' Bedard can only wait and see
Connor Bedard's much-anticipated debut with the Regina Pats is still up in the air, but his feet are planted firmly on the ground.
The unflappable 15-year-old centre has done his best over the past few months to avoid the dizzying highs and lows of the COVID-19 pandemic. That even-keeled approach should serve him well as the virus continues to wreak havoc across Western Canada, jeopardizing the WHL'S restart strategy in the process.
“Honestly, I try not to think too much about it,” Bedard said Thursday during a Zoom call with the Regina media. “We're still planning for that start (on Jan. 8) but anything can happen. I obviously hope it goes (ahead) but, if it doesn't, just keep training and see what happens.”
The Saskatchewan government announced last week that all team sports and related activities — including full practices — would be shut down until at least Dec. 17 due to rising COVID numbers.
That casts serious doubt upon the WHL'S plan to open training camps right after Christmas and commence an abbreviated schedule in January.
There's now talk of delaying the start until February — assuming it happens at all.
“( Cancelling the season) wouldn't be something I would like, but that's totally out of my control,” said Bedard, the first-ever WHL player to receive exceptional status for early entry into the league. “I obviously really hope we start. I'm going to keep trying to get myself ready for the hope that we do start.”
The WHL typically drops the puck on the third weekend in September, but its start date has been pushed back three times so far — to Oct. 2, Dec. 4 and Jan. 8.
Those delays prompted Bedard to spend two months with HV71, an elite junior club in Sweden. He returned home to North Vancouver about three weeks ago after HV71'S season was abruptly halted until the new year.
Having completed a 14-day travel quarantine, Bedard is now back to his normal training schedule — on the ice six or seven times per week and in the gym for five or six more.
“I'm kind of treating it like it's the summer,” he explained. “Obviously I wish I could be in Regina playing right now but that's not the case so you have to just adapt and try to figure out the best way to improve your game.”
When the WHL announced its intention to start up on Jan. 8, it was called a firm date rather than a tentative plan.
However, Pats GM John Paddock cautioned at the time that the virus could potentially threaten those plans and shut things down at any point.
His words now seem prophetic, but Paddock remains optimistic that the Pats' 2020-21 season will get off the ground — eventually.
“I'm still pretty positive about the league getting up and running … without question,” said Paddock, who also noted that “since August we've all had to understand that we need to be flexible and adaptable — that things can change positively or negatively at the drop of a hat.”
Paddock pointed out that the COVID situation took a turn for the worse after Thanksgiving and Halloween. Further challenges lie ahead with Christmas and New Year's, which could factor into another postponement.
“That's to be determined, for sure, but those things that happened (previously) weren't nice for getting back to playing hockey,” said Paddock, who later added: “I would think there will be some decisions soon because there are things that have to happen in preparation for getting on the ice.”