Connor Bedard almost hit the ice for his NHL debut without a stick

Connor Bedard’s first NHL game is the most anticipated debut in almost a decade, and every hockey fan has been mentally fast-forwarding to puck drop. Even Bedard himself couldn’t help but skip a few key steps amid the excitement.

Prior to taking the ice for warmups ahead of his first regular-season contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, Bedard was roaring out of the tunnel, ready to display his prodigious talent against the world’s best competition.

Only one problem: Bedard forgot his stick!

In the grand scheme of things, this is a minor deal — Bedard would’ve almost certainly got his stick from an equipment manager instantly — but that won’t stop his teammates from chirping him, no matter how many goals he scores this season.

Bedard and Kevin Korchinski took a rookie lap without their helmets prior to the game even though it’s mandatory for all players as of 2019-20 to wear one.

This will be a fun anecdote for Bedard, especially if he lights it up against the Penguins in the season opener. Bedard is the best prospect to enter the league since Auston Matthews, primarily because of his otherworldly shot and release, which he can get off from virtually anywhere on the ice. He is the face of Sherwood Hockey without playing a single game and the company probably wouldn’t be thrilled about missing some key product placement.

Bedard, in all seriousness, is going to be the face of a Blackhawks franchise going through an overhaul both on and off the ice, and he’ll immediately slot in as their top-line center Tuesday night. He has the best-selling jersey in the NHL Shop as of July. He is every bit worth the hype.

But, for a moment, he was merely just another starstruck 18-year-old who nearly forgot their stick.