Referee issues 10-minute penalty to Connor Bedard for abuse of officials, a breakdown
What Happened
In a tightly contested game between the Black Hawks and the Sharks, highly touted 19-year-old prospect Connor Bedard finds himself at the center of a controversial incident. Midway through the game, Bedard goes down after what he believes is a tripping foul, but the officials do not call a penalty. Visibly upset, Bedard approaches the referee to voice his disagreement, saying, "Come on, that's a trip." The referee responds and Bedard appears to accept the explanation, saying, "Alright, buddy," and heading to the bench to get a new stick. However, the altercation is not over, as the referee subsequently assesses Bedard a 10-minute misconduct penalty for "abuse of officials." Bedard is stunned by the call, exclaiming, "What? What?" as he is escorted to the penalty box. The team captain tries to intervene, explaining to the referee that he had already warned Bedard and had no choice but to issue the penalty. Bedard reluctantly takes his seat in the box, visibly frustrated as he watches his team try to mount a comeback. With Bedard in the box, the Sharks capitalize, scoring an empty-net goal to seal the victory. Afterwards, Bedard is asked about the incident and he admits that the penalty likely came after his comments to the referee when he reached the bench, rather than the initial exchange on the ice. "I remember probably when I got to the bench," Bedard says. "I could have played with Stodona. Did you think of your said was that a grievance? I didn't think it was too crazy, but you know, he's a ref, so he gets to make that call." The young star acknowledges that he may have said too much and the referee's comments about giving Bedard two prior warnings suggest the penalty was warranted, even if the timing of it was debatable. Bedard's outspoken nature and competitive spirit have landed him in hot water, but with time and maturity, he is sure to learn from this experience as he continues his promising NHL career.
Full Transcript
Had a bizarre penalty in the Black Hawk Shark's game last night, I got a bunch of tweets saying, hey, take a look at this. Tell us what happened. I'll try. We're going to try this breakdown is brought to you by draft Kings. Now we got but dart with the puck right here and he goes down. He looks for the officially wants the tripping call. He gets up continues to play. The puck's going to come his way at some point right here. Alright number 98 is 19 years old first round pick in 2023. Young stud for the Black Hawk's as he heads to the bench. We can kind of see he's looking at the official. So you see that that extra lean like he's going in there and he's turned. He turns to the door can shut and then this extra lean and he says something to the official right there. We can just see he's addressing the rough yelling about the non tripping call. So let's take a look at the when he went down. This is the above angle and you can see his dip seed doodle and dangling and then goes down. Actually actually kind of a sneaky like pass that got a decent shot on the golden seat to the last second. Another angle shows he did get tripped the stick goes right under the skate blade and he goes down kind of in an awkward way. So he's upset about that. Now the official the ref's going to come over to him to talk to him while he's checking out his stick making sure his babies okay and he says to the ref pretty benignly come on. That's a trip. You know and the ref says something to him and he...