Pats’ Paddock marvels at Bedard’s focus amid increasing scrutiny

John Paddock has seen Connor Bedard do some amazing things with the Regina Pats.

But Paddock also has seen fans do some concerning things when it comes to the 17-year-old phenom.

“I think (the attention Bedard generates) is way past what it should be and way past what we expected it to be,” Paddock, the Pats’ general manager and head coach, said Tuesday on The Green Zone.

“Anytime there are kids involved, he goes out of his way and his family goes out of its way to take care of that. (The expectation) of signing a picture or having a picture taken or signing one thing, it’s fine. But there have been instances where people think it’s their right to get 20 things signed. That’s clearly ridiculous.”

That might force the Pats to do more to protect their superstar.

“(The hype) is probably bigger and busier than we would have thought and anybody would have thought, so we try to manage it (and) try to encourage him to manage it,” Paddock said. “We might have to step up a couple more things here as we’re in playoffs with security and things like that, but we’ll see how that works out.”

Bedard has been the focus of people’s attention for a while now.

The buzz in Regina started when the WHL made him the first player in league history ever granted exceptional status, allowing him to play in the league full-time as a 15-year-old. The Pats subsequently selected him with the No. 1 pick in the 2020 draft.

As a 16-year-old, Bedard became the youngest player in WHL history to score 50 goals in a season, cementing his status as the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL draft.

Bedard has only added to the hype this season. After a record-setting showing at the 2023 world junior hockey championship, he has put together one of the finest WHL campaigns in recent years.

With two games remaining in the Pats’ regular season, Bedard has 70 goals and 72 assists. He’s the first Pats player to reach the 70-goal plateau since Dale Derkatch had 72 in the 1983-84 campaign, and he’s the first WHLer to reach the 142-point mark in a season since Corey Lyons got there during the 1989-90 campaign with the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Despite all the outside noise, Bedard just keeps rolling. He had nine goals and 17 points in his past four games to earn the WHL’s player-of-the-week award.

“I certainly couldn’t imagine (trying to deal with it) if I was ever the player,” Paddock said. “It seems like, in all sports, these — what it looks like he could be trending towards — these unique or special or generational players, they just do it. I don’t have any other explanation for it other than that.

“It’s amazing, his focus.”

He also keeps doing things that amaze a longtime hockey man like Paddock. The veteran head coach pointed to a goal Bedard scored in Saturday’s 7-3 victory over the Moose Jaw Warriors.

“How that puck went in or where it went in — well, I know where it went in; it went over the goalie’s shoulder,” Paddock said. “But you can’t really see the puck, you just know it’s in the net.

“I looked down to (assistant coach) Ken (Schneider) and I looked down to Brad (Herauf, the other assistant) and was like, ‘What did we just see here? What just happened?’ ”

And more and more people are seeing Bedard makes things happen.

The Pats have been helping WHL teams set single-game attendance records since Bedard’s star turn at the world junior tournament. It’s been dubbed “The Bedard Bump.”

On Feb. 1, for example, 17,223 fans packed the Scotiabank Saddledome for Regina’s 6-5 shootout victory over the Calgary Hitmen. And on Sunday, 14,768 patrons were at SaskTel Centre to see the Pats down the Saskatoon Blades 4-2.

“For the most part, we’ve actually performed and played pretty well in these games that are full …,” Paddock said when asked how his players have reacted to huge crowds. “The games have been close and good and we’ve won our share of road games.

“I don’t know if it’s directly related to the crowd, but I think that for players in any sport — especially in confined areas like hockey and the rinks in the Western Hockey League — when you get a full house there, it’s good for everybody. It’s good for both teams.

“It just is a really great experience.”