Connor Bedard had already broken all possible records for the Canadian junior team earlier in the game when he offered this anthology game in overtime. A game that we should still talk about in a few decades.
It was 3-3 in overtime with three players against three, against tough Slovaks, Monday night in the quarter-finals, when Bedard beat two opponents in the offensive zone before daring an extraordinary fake to beat the surprising goalkeeper Adam Gajan .
Canada advanced to the semi-finals against the Americans, who beat Germany 11-1 earlier in the day.
It was for Bedard, the youngest player on the Canadian team at 17 and a potential first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, a third point in the game.
The young man from North Vancouver broke Eric Lindros’ Canadian record for most career points with his 32ethe Canadian record for most points in a tournament, with 21, the Canadian record for most career goals held by Jordan Eberle with 16 and he became the first 17-year-old player to amass 20 points in a tournament.
Admittedly, Canada is a one-man team. With 21 points in just 5 games, Bedard has 12 more than his closest pursuer in Canada, his center Logan Stankoven, and 10 more than the second overall, the American Logan Cooley.
By comparison, Shane Wright, whom some saw first overall in the 2022 draft, had a good tournament, but nothing transcendent, with six points in five games.
What Bedard offers us in this tournament is likely to be epoch-making. Despite his young age, he looks like a veteran among the youngsters, when he is actually the youngest of the group.
Slovaks can be proud. With a very young team, without their best striker Juraj Slafkovsky, one wondered if they were going to fight to avoid relegation. They gave the favorite team cold sweats.
The hope of CH Filip Mesar, first round choice (26e) in 2022, and great friend of Slafkovsky, played a very inspired match, once again. This small right-handed forward employed on the wing produced a superb game to allow the Slovaks to force the equality at the end of the third, after controlling the puck behind the net and spotting his teammate alone in front of the goal.
Mesar, 5-foot-10, 172 lbs., had six points in five games in this tournament and was one of the best in terms of entering the zone with the puck. He showed great vision for the game and a lot of guts in high-tension moments.
Urgently recalled following the injury of Colton Dach, brother of Kirby, Owen Beck allowed the Canadian to equal his record for the most hopes at a World Junior Championship, with seven.
Employed as a thirteenth striker, Beck got a good chance to score and caused a penalty with his mere presence in the game at the end of the first period, but he was seen only once thereafter.
In 2019, Nick Suzuki, Josh Brook, Ryan Poehling, Cayden Primeau, Jacob Olofsson, Jesse Ylönen and Alexander Romanov represented CH. Of the lot, only Suzuki plays for Montreal, but Romanov helped acquire Kirby Dach.
What will the young Canadian sensation, most likely the best player to reach the NHL since Connor McDavid in 2015, have in store for us against the Americans?
On social media on Monday, Eric Lindros asked him not only to beat his record, but to smash it. He is likely to add a few points in the next two games, since the semi-finalists are guaranteed two games – for the gold medal for the winners and for the bronze medal for the losers…