Connor Bedard reveals how heartbroken he is…

On Tuesday, no one expected for Team Canada to get eliminated by the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal at the 2024 World Juniors hockey championship. To make things worse, it happened in heartbreaking fashion with a dramatic decider in the final seconds of regulation. After erasing an early 2-0 deficit and overtime looming, the defending champions were ousted of the tournament when Jakub Stancl scored his second goal of the game with 11.7 seconds left in regulation and Czechia moved on to the tournament’s semifinals on Thursday. Canada, which had played in four straight finals, suffered its first-ever loss to the Czechs in the medal round.

“Horrible way to end things,” Owen Beck said after the defeat.

Chicago reporters found first overall pick Connor Bedard in the Blackhawks’ dressing room ahead of their matchup against the Nashville Predators and the former star player for the Canadian club was devastated at his home country’s loss. This is what he said, per insider Chris Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago:

“I know a lot of guys on the team, and being a Canadian, we take a lot of pride in that. I just feel bad for those guys and how hard they played. It sucks, for sure.”

At the 2022-23 World Junior Hockey Championships, Bedard was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. With 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) in seven games at that tournament, Bedard set a new Canadian record for points in a single tournament passing both Dale McCourt (1977) and Braden Schenn who both had 18. His 14 assists also set another Canadian record for assists in a tournament. At the time he accomplishes all of these amazing feats, Bedard was only 17 therefore passing Jaromir Jagr for points at a tournament by a player aged 18 or younger.

Canada didn’t have Bedard this time around and it was the end of its pursuit of a third consecutive gold medal at the tournament. This is the first time Czechia has beaten Canada in the medal round at the World Juniors.

We get why Bedard is heartbroken for the players and how it probably didn’t help that his Blackhawks fell 3-0 to the Predators later that same day.

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