Jamie Nye: No. 98 belongs in Brandt Centre rafters sooner rather than later

Opinion

The best there is. The best there was. The best there ever will be.

Yes, I know that’s the catchphrase for Bret (The Hitman) Hart, but the motto can also be applied now to Regina Pats phenom Connor Bedard.

The Pats’ season ended Monday in a 4-1 loss to the Saskatoon Blades in Game 7 of a WHL first-round playoff series. And that loss likely signalled the conclusion to a short but brilliant junior career for the league’s first exceptional status player.

The Pats should start seeking quotes on a banner to hang on the western wall of the Brandt Centre with Bedard’s likeness, name and No. 98.

It is there that Bedard belongs with the other Pat legends — Jordan Eberle, Mike Sillinger, Doug Wickenheiser, Clark Gillies, Dale Derkatch, Ed Staniowski, Dennis Sobchuk, Jock Callander, Bill Hicke and Brad Hornung — who have had their numbers retired before him.

While the debate is nearly impossible to compare generations, I know this. None of those players gripped the community, the league and the country quite like Bedard has since he was granted exceptional status just hours before the draft in which the Pats would select him first overall.

We may never see anything like him again in the WHL or at least won’t for a considerably long time.

I don’t think Connor McDavid or Sidney Crosby garnered the same hype as Bedard when they were 17, although the increase in social media is no doubt a large reason, if not the only reason for that.

But what has also made Bedard special is the time he’s given to kids, trying to ensure the young hockey fans who wanted some time with the Pats star were given as much time as he could possibly allow.

Unfortunately, since the record-breaking world junior tournament at the start of 2023, he’s had much more attention and considerably less time. However, he still did what he could.

Now, this isn’t to make him out to be some sort of superhero. We all have to remind ourselves Bedard is still only 17 and just got his driver’s licence recently. But he’s been driving the interest of the team and the league.

Look at Saskatoon’s attendance for its six home games with Bedard in the lineup since March. Only Garth Brooks sold more tickets for repeat performances at SaskTel Centre.

And while I hope there isn’t a dip in interest for the Blades when they take on Red Deer in Round 2, I’m fully expecting one.

It’s the “Bedard Bump” and all WHL markets got one this season.

Now, he’ll try to take on the NHL with the same unwavering determination and rare talent that led Bedard to do things in the Western Hockey League we haven’t seen in not just a single generation but multiple generations.

And 11 NHL teams will rely on the right combination of bingo balls to be pulled, not unlike the Pats when the Prince George Cougars’ ball got plucked in the WHL draft lottery, landing the Pats the first selection.

We couldn’t have predicted what the Pats were getting with a then-14-year -old North Vancouver product. Not the 20-point playoff round or the back-to-back 50-goal seasons or 70 goals or the future captain or the loyalty to his team and the franchise.

But it happened. And hockey fans are thankful. And we can’t wait to have Bedard back at the Brandt Centre or maybe some future building to see No. 98 forever enshrined in Regina Pats history, whether that be sooner or later.