Canada won the World Junior Hockey Championship with an overtime goal, but post-game commentary by tournament MVP Connor Bedard became an important point of discussion after the game..Dylan Guenther’s game-winner at 6:22 of overtime was his second of the night, giving Canada the gold despite blowing a 2-0 lead in the third period to defeat Czechia 3-2 on Thursday. Captain Shane Wright also scored on his 19th birthday..Connor Bedard scored in the first period, but had his goal disallowed for going offside before the shot. It was the first time he was held pointless in the tournament. Following the game, TSN reporter Kenzie Lalonde asked Bedard.“Connor, you have broken records along the way but you have said since Day One, your goal was gold. Do you dig that? What can you say about this team and this game?”.Bedard began, “Yeah it was crazy, I mean…” before pausing before the loud cheers of the Halifax crowd who would otherwise have been hearing the interview through the arena loudspeakers..“Will you listen to them, it’s pretty nuts. I think going into overtime a lot of us have been there. A lot of us experienced the exact same thing. And so we had so much confidence going in with this group. And we…” Bedard said..As chants of “MVP! MVP!” went through the crowd, Bedard acknowledged them..“I don’t know, I mean this is, this is unbelievable here. And we’ve got to thank them too.”.Lalonde said, “For your performance, it was—" but was interrupted by Bedard before she could ask her question..“I don’t want to talk about myself right now! We’re not talking about me! We just won the biggest tournament in the world! And I love this group, and I love this country, and this city right here has been unbelievable!”.Lalonde, who smiled with embarrassment at Bedard’s correction, showed she was a quick learner..“What will you remember most about this team?” she asked..“I mean, it was the experience of a lifetime for myself, for all my teammates, my brothers,” Bedard replied. “It’s unbelievable.”.The interview was less controversial than Erin Andrews’ 2014 post-game talk with Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman, but similarly rivaled the game itself in next-day discussion. On the Rod Pedersen Show, Pedersen himself commented..“Connor Bedard was named tournament MVP after a performance for the ages, 23 points in 7 games and he didn’t have a point in the game last night, but who cares? We could sit here and talk for two hours talking about him snapping on the TSN on-ice reporter,” Pedersen said..On the live chat on Pedersen’s show, Jack Fulton wrote, “Connor Bedard's DEPTH OF CHARACTER was on full display in the Post Game Interview.” Pedersen agreed..“Nobody is ripping Bedard for just snapping on that young female reporter. Like, literally, has anyone stopped to think how she felt? The answer is no…And she’s just realized, if she hasn’t realized yet, that sideline reporting is the toughest job in this broadcasting business, and I’ve done all the jobs….“Believe me, somebody would have had to have consoled her after that.”.TSN analyst Darren Dreger told Pedersen the reporter did just fine..“This has nothing to do with female and being emotional. I put myself in her shoes…This is your moment as a sideline on-ice reporter, and he chews your head off because you’re about to ask him about something. But, to not break down and cry at that moment and continue the interview, like, she did a great job to just finish the interview. Tough spot.”.In the live chat, Jenn Illingworth said Bedard gave her another reason to cheer..“I lived [sic] it when Connor shut her right up! That boy is a class act, no doubt.” Some Youtubers re-posted the clip with apparent approval. “We Not Me” was the title chosen by David K Digital, while Eck already has over 200,000 views for “Connor Bedard is a legend for this interview.”.Asked by Western Standard if this was the greatest Team Canada team and most entertaining tournament ever, Pedersen said, “The 2005 Canadian team was the best. Sidney Crosby, Ryan Getzlaf, et. al, was the greatest Canadian team ever. And I felt the tournament last summer was more exciting than this.”.Dreger partly disagreed. “Best Canadian team? Not even close. That’s not even worth the conversation because Canada was not dominant…but best tournament? I am here for that conversation because it was very entertaining.”.Pedersen replied, “Yeah, it was the first tournament since high school that I watched every shift of every game.”
