Three Blue Jackets Players Welcome Connor Bedard to Columbus with surprise gesture
Photo credit: Sportsnet
Connor Bedard was fattened up by Columbus Blue JacketsKent Johnson, Jake Christiansen, and Adam Fantilli before tonight's match can they execute a win afterward?
Bedard and Johnson have a history that goes back to North Vancouver at age 14 (Johnson) and 11 (Bedard) with the North Shore Winter Club.
Both Bedard and Johnson have proved their worth as they were both high draft picks at the start of their profession careers with Johnson being selected 5th overall in 2021, and Bedard 1st in 2023.
An interesting arc for both players who have continued to push each other to be the best they can be in the sport of hockey.
«It's kind of funny - when I'm 15, he's 12, I'm obviously better than him, but I kind of knew, he's coming for me,» Johnson said. «I'm like, 'I have to stay better than him, stay better than him.' There was one summer I came back and he was dominating me early in the summer, getting the best of me more than I was him, and I was like, 'I have to get my shot better.' I think everything in our games was pretty equal, but his shot was just far better than mine. We played 3-on-3 and he would win, and I was like, 'I need to learn to shoot it a bit like him.'
Each player has developed into the best offensive talent available in the NHL, and we'll get to see them butt-heads tonight.
Both Johnson and Christiansen wear the Union blue, while Bedard wears an original-six crest, and both have played on Team Canada in the IIHF, and play on the same team in a summer roller hockey league.
No reason why you wouldn't treat your friends to some good food, and fatten them up before the game right?
Well, that's what Kent Johnson, Jake Christiansen, and Adam Fantilli did.
Given that they're hockey players they spared no expense, I'd wager it was somewhere nice, like Smith and Wollensky's ( a steakhouse in Central Ohio).
The Columbus Blue Jackets will be playing with a purpose tonight as they have to keep fighting to stay relevant in the Metropolitan Division if they're to win a wildcard spot in the East.
Connor Bedard will have to overcome the Blue Jackets who have come from behind with players like Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, and Dimitri Voronkov, who have lethal shots, to secure a victory and not just a moral one.
It'll be an exciting showdown to see the close friends clash on the ice, and even better if Bedard can pull off a multi-point game in Nationwide Arena.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 22 | 91 ANSWERS Three Blue Jackets Players Welcome Connor Bedard to Columbus with surprise gesture Do you think Center Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks can defeat his close friend forward Kent Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets in tonight's game? | ||
| Yes | 30 | 33 % |
| No | 61 | 67 % |
| List of polls | ||
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