'He's a team first guy': Pats familiar with Connor Bedard's team first attitude at world juniors

Despite breaking a handful of records and having one of the most memorable World Junior Championships of all time, Regina Pats captain Connor Bedard remained a team first player throughout the event.

“I don’t want to talk about myself, we’re not talking about me,” Bedard said during an interview with TSN after Canada’s 3-2 overtime win to claim gold over Czechia on Thursday night.

It’s a selfless attitude Regina Pats’ radio broadcaster Dante De Caria is familiar with.

“I’m not really too surprised with what Connor said. I’ve interviewed him lots of times over the course of my career here with the Regina Pats and he’s a team-first guy,” De Caria said during an interview with CTV Morning Live.

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“He wants to win and unfortunately the Pats have not had a ton of team success around Connor although they hope to get that when he comes back. This though was an opportunity for Connor to have some team success because when he gets to the NHL a lot of that and a lot of his legacy is probably going to come down to team success.”

Bedard leaves the 2023 World Juniors with a gold medal as well as nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points in seven games played at the event.

The 17-year-old was also named tournament MVP.

Bedard was not the only member of the Pats playing for gold, as defenseman Stanislav Svozil captained Czechia to its first medal at the tournament since 2005.

Svozil put up eight points in seven games in his third world juniors.

The Pats meanwhile are back in action Friday night at the Brandt Centre when they host the Seattle Thunderbirds at 7 p.m.

Bedard and Svozil are not expected to be in the lineup.