Connor Bedard made one opponent miss.
And another. And another.
The breathtaking 17-year-old then calmly slid the puck home to set off wild celebrations and send his country to the semifinals at the world junior hockey championship.
Bedard scored at 5:17 of overtime on a brilliant, jaw-dropping individual effort Monday as the tournament hosts defeated Slovakia 4-3.
WATCH l Bedard scores OT winner in historic night to lead Canada past Slovakia:
On a historic night for the youngster, Connor Bedard scored in overtime to propel Canada to a 4-3 victory. Canada will play the United States in the next round.
The extraordinary talent deked his way past three Slovaks before backhanding his eighth goal of the event to blow the roof off a red-clad Scotiabank Centre.
“I always want the puck,” Bedard said. “It’s still hockey, I’m still out there doing what I love. The moment’s big. But I’ve done that same move, I’ve done the same shot I took a million times in my basement in practice, by myself on the ice.
“I’m out there playing hockey.”
At an absolutely astounding level.
“I’m kind of calling for it,” Canadian defenceman Brandt Clarke said of the highlight-reel OT sequence. “But I see him burn the first guy, see him burn the second guy, see him burn the third guy and then go to the backhand on the goalie.
Bedard also scored early in the first — setting four records in the process — before adding an assist on Canada’s second goal to establish another national mark.
“It’s hard to describe what he means for our team,” said goaltender Thomas Milic, who made 24 saves, including a couple huge stops to keep his team alive. “It’s almost like he’s pressing random buttons on the Xbox controller coming up with some of these dangles. You never know what he’s going to do next. He keeps surprising.”
“I think [Bedard’s] from another world,” said Slovak captain Simon Nemec.
Dylan Guenther and Zack Ostapchuk provided the rest of the offence for the Canadians, who will face the United States on Wednesday after the Americans thumped Germany 11-1.
WATCH l 17-year-old phenom Bedard sets 3 Canadian records with 1 goal:
With a 1st period goal against Slovakia, the 17-year-old phenom set the record for most career points by a Canadian with 32, the most career goals by a…
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