Photo credit: Newsweek

It’s been a week since Connor Bedard and Team Canada lost to Team Sweden in the Bronze Medal game.

The May 26th loss resulted in a quirky happening, where Bedard has been off the ice, for over a week. This wasn’t by choice either.

“We had a lot of quarantines, obviously, during COVID, but that’s not my choice,” Bedard said. “I don’t know, maybe a week or a little more than that. Not too long usually.”

Bedard is likely headed home to Northern B.C., Vancouver where he usually links up with other NHLers and prospects, his “hockey homies” from Lower B.C. which includes the likes of the Islanders Matthew Barzal. They usually engage in 3 on 3 competitions.

There’s no telling where Bedard is or will be en route to, but one of the rinks he could be headed toward is the North Shore Winter Club, where Bedard first picked up the skates at, or elsewhere. It could also be in Lower B.C. with the Scotia Barn in Burnaby, where the going rate is a whopping $400/ an hour.

“We’ve got a really good group in the summer for skates,” Bedard said. “We do a best-of-seven at least once a week and a lot of bragging rights go into that. Guys are pretty intense, which is great, and we can get a good thing going in the summer. It’s a lot of fun.”

Also involved in their group skate sessions is the Columbus Blue Jackets own Kent Johnson, Jake Christiansen, Angus Crookshank of the Ottawa Senators and Andrew Cristall, a 19th over pick and Burnaby product, now a Washington Capital.

“I think the biggest thing is everyone wants to get better,” Bedard said. “Everyone loves hockey and that’s kind of the best part of the group we’ve got there.”

Bedard and company, play roller hockey about once a week in the summer, in effort to keep his skills fresh. One thing he doesn’t do is share his schedule in order to keep things private and undisturbed, and who can blame him??

Despite that, the 2023-2024 NHL rookie leader didn’t mind the attention from kids and minor hockey players, who would watch him skate in Chicago.