Friendly competition helps push Johnson, Bedard to new heights

Head to the North Shore of Vancouver in the summer and you might find some of the most entertaining hockey you'll ever see.

The picturesque city where mountains, water and forest meet also has become one of the world’s best hockey hotbeds, producing players that are helping redefine what’s possible in our game.

Two of them will be on the ice tonight at Nationwide Arena in Columbus’ Kent Johnson and Chicago’s Connor Bedard. And the two ultra-skilled forwards from Vancouver aren’t just adversaries who can fill up the stat sheet, they’re friends who spend each summer pushing each other to reach new heights.

As such, they can draw quite a crowd to their offseason skates, though it’s pretty clear who the favorite is among the youngsters who come out to see their hockey heroes.

“These little kids are out there and they’re chanting, ‘Go Connor!’ even when I’m shooting,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I’m always joking, it’s always like I’m playing on the road. It’s cool. I really enjoy it. It’s funny, but he’s definitely a bit of a rock star. Makes me feel like a nobody sometimes.”

Bedard, ever humble, disputes that a bit.

“People are there to see him too,” the Chicago wunderkind said. “It’s fun. It’s good skates there in the summer. I’ve enjoyed growing our relationship and just getting to see his growth as a player. Obviously, he’s doing great. He’s a special player, and it’s fun to watch.”

Indeed, the two are some of the brightest young offensive stars in the game. Bedard needs little introduction, as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft came into the league ordained as one of the league’s next superstars. After a junior career in which he scored 71 times in 57 games in his final season, Bedard has shown he can have a similar impact in the NHL as a teenager, posting 38 goals and 110 points in 123 NHL games over a season and a half.

Johnson also went into his draft billed as a difference maker because of his high-level skill, and the Blue Jackets made him the No. 5 overall pick in the 2021 draft out of the University of Michigan. After one of the top rookie seasons in team history in 2022-23, Johnson is having the best season of his NHL career at age 22 for the Blue Jackets, notching 17 goals and 36 points in 42 games amid a breakout campaign.

It all started back at the North Shore Winter Club when Johnson was 14 years old and Bedard was 11.

“There was always ice available where you could go on and like play shinny, work on skills,” Johnson said. “He was just this little kid who was always out there. I was out there a lot, so I was like, ‘Who is this kid? He’s tiny but he looks unreal.’ And then I went to ask who that is, and they were like, ‘Oh, he’s the best player of his age in the world, they’re saying.’”

After a year of seeing each other at such skates, they ended up on the same roller hockey team, with Bedard playing with kids three years older than him. The end result? A league championship.

“We were pretty dominant,” Johnson said with a laugh. “I honestly don’t really know how we ended up on the same team because we were probably the two best players in the league. It was funny.”

“That’s true,” Bedard said with a smile. “We were pretty nice back then."

The two went their separate ways in hockey as time went by, with Bedard going the junior route and Johnson taking the college path, but they stayed friends and kept playing roller hockey together in the summer along with CBJ defenseman Jake Christiansen.

As the friendship developed, so did their skills, as they became close training partners in the summer. Johnson realized early on that he could learn from Bedard.

“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.’

“He really pushed me to work on my shot and get it better. It’s not even that I was worried about my shot for the season, I was worried about my shot so I could compete with him in the summer. He’s helped me a ton with that. Just seeing up close what’s so good about his shot, it’s really helped me.”

For Bedard, the feeling is mutual.

“I think we both have helped each other a lot,” he said. “Our skates in the summer, it’s intense. We want to beat each other. We’re never really on the same team, and I can learn so much just watching him. Now we’re at a point where we’re talking about little things, sending each other clips of something we see or whatever. It’s great when you can have that healthy competition in the offseason and just watch a guy, and you can learn so much from him.”

That competition will continue tonight in Nationwide Arena, and if it’s anything like the teams’ matchup in December, fireworks could be had as both Johnson and Bedard scored in the first period of that game in the United Center.

The two had dinner last night in Columbus, just as they did in Chicago a few months ago, and they’ll continue to push each other to reach the top of the NHL.

“It’s awesome to be with a guy like that,” Bedard said. “He’s so committed to getting better, and a great guy off the ice, so it’s fun to play with him tonight.”