Bédard also did a lot of shooting and stick work around his home in the city’s Lynn Valley neighborhood.

“Me and him, when he was little, our neighborhood was flat and he could do a lot of things in line with the puck, shoot and skate,” Tom said. “It’s something similar. It’s not exact but we were able to practice and he did a lot of things alone and with me. He just took the game that way.

But when you walk around North Vancouver, you won’t see signs saying “Connor Bedard’s House” or anything like that. Marr said Bédard is certainly embraced by his hometown, but even more so by the community at large.

“I’m just telling you about the intimacy of North Van from the city, but at the same time the city itself is sort of embracing the successes that come from here and being labeled as just the city of Vancouver” , Marr said. said. “So I think with Connor’s special story, it’s easy for someone from Surrey to be proud and think of him as a local boy as much as where he grew up in North Van.

“It would be a different story if he came from a city like Kamloops or Kelowna, three hours from here. I think this city would say, “No, he’s ours.” But in Vancouver, it’s more about the status of our entire city.

This seems fitting, as Bédard spent his life skating in various locations around the area. There is Canlan Sports North Shore, about a five-minute drive from NSWC. Then there’s Canlan Sports’ Scotia Barn and Burnaby Winter Club in Burnaby, about 20 minutes south of North Vancouver; and Planet Ice in Coquitlam, west of Vancouver.

But NSWC is the main venue for him.

“Once March came around, they left the ice in the facility and if you were a member, you could use that ice most of the time. A lot of kids were using that ice and having games,” Tom said. “They were doing it themselves, pick-up games, which was a huge thing if you used it to develop yourself, right, because you could be on the ice all summer, alone if you wanted it. And he did it. He used it a lot.

Indeed, there is a lot of ice at NSWC, where Bédard is the latest player on the club’s “Winterhawks Pros” wall of fame. Downstairs there is a full size and 2/3 ice rink and downstairs there is another 2/3 ice surface and a quarter ice shooting area.

“There’s never a practice for the kids (downstairs), so it’s open and anyone can come, as long as they’re a member,” said former NHL forward Kyle Turris, now director of hockey at NSWC, to NHL.com on Friday. .