Halifax (Canada) U20 World Ice Hockey Championship: Final: Canada – Czech Republic, January 6, 2023. Connor Bedard holds the world champions trophy.
Zurich – Canadian super talent Connor Bedard became the premier winner of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) poll for the best world player of the season. Czech forward Dominik Kubalík received the fewest votes out of the seven nominees. The results were announced by the IIHF on the website, the best player was the previously announced American Hilary Knight.
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Seventeen-year-old Bedard, who led Canada to defend gold at the World Junior Championships in January, received 31.8 percent of the vote in a vote by journalists and representatives of the so-called IIHF family. The biggest favorite for the number one pick in this year's NHL draft scored nine goals and 14 assists at home and was voted the best forward and player of the tournament. He came up empty only in the final with the Czech Republic in a 3-2 overtime win.
“It's a really huge award. I don't know how to compare it to the ones I've received before. But it's quite unbelievable that I got preference over all the incredible players who have played in IIHF competitions, as well as the great candidates for this award,” said Berard, who was telephoned by IIHF President Luc Tardif with the news of his victory in the poll.
Latvian finished second with 19.6 percent goalkeeper Arturs Šilovs. One of the builders of the sensational bronze from the May championships in Tampere and Riga narrowly defeated the third Swiss Andres Ambühl. Before Kubalík, who was the best scorer at the World Cup and was also in the All Star team, the Germans Moritz Seider with JJ Peterka and the Canadian Adam Fantilli were also able to compete for the new trophy. participated in at least one IIHF event during the season (Olympic Games or Senior or Junior World Championships).
