'Start of something special': Riders use garbage bag day to reflect on 2024
Nov 11, 2024
The locker room was full of optimism for the future of the organization on Sunday.
Regina Pats fans will get a chance to see Connor Bedard at the Brandt Centre this weekend — or at least a miniature version of him.
The WHL team announced Thursday that it’s holding Connor Bedard Bobblehead Night on Sunday, when the Pats play host to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Game time is set for 4 p.m.
The bobbleheads of the former Pats star are to go on sale when the doors open at the Brandt Centre on Sunday at 3 p.m. The bobbleheads cost $10 each, with sales limited to one bobblehead per person since there’s a limited quantity.
The replicas are to be sold on the northeast side of the Brandt Centre concourse. Proceeds are to go towards the Female Hockey Challenge, the largest annual female hockey tournament in Regina.
The promotion is sponsored by Westridge Construction, which has been involved in the Female Hockey Challenge for the past 25 years.
Bedard, a product of North Vancouver, B.C., was the first player ever granted exceptional player status in the WHL, allowing him to play full time in the league at age 15.
Regina was the beneficiary of that, having landed the first pick overall in the 2020 WHL draft in a trade with the Swift Current Broncos. The Pats quickly selected Bedard with that pick.
Over the next three seasons, Bedard scored 134 goals and added 137 assists in 134 career regular-season games with the Pats. During the 2022-23 season, Regina’s captain led the WHL with 71 goals and 143 points in just 57 games, and then added 10 goals and 10 assists in seven playoff games.
He subsequently was named the WHL’s most outstanding player and the Canadian Hockey League’s player of the year.
Earlier, he had been named the MVP of the 2023 world junior hockey championship after scoring nine goals and assisting on 14 others to help Canada win gold. In his second appearance in the event, he set numerous Canadian single-tournament and career scoring records.
Bedard was the No. 1 pick overall in the 2023 NHL draft by the Chicago Blackhawks. In 11 games so far this season, he has five goals and two assists.
Tickets for Sunday’s game are available on the Pats’ website, at the team’s business office at 1463 Albert St. or at the Brandt Centre box office on game day.
The Connor Bedard bobblehead that will be on sale Sunday at the Brandt Centre. (Regina Pats/Submitted)