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Future Pros: Canadian Martin Bedard

Future Pros: Canadian Martin Bedard

By Michael Preston

Forget hockey and forget the festive season, or at least put it on hold for a few days. Football is all that counts next week for Martin Bedard, a Quebec native who is one of many Canadians playing in college football bowl game action over the holidays.

Bedard grew up in Laval, a city more celebrated for producing the likes of current NHL stars Alexandre Daigle, Martin St. Louis and Jose Theodore than college football athletes. But Bedard, who played both sports from a young age, eventually chose the gridiron over ice and has no regrets as he heads into the Meineke Care Care Bowl lining up for Connecticut against Wake Forest on Saturday, December 29.

The 23-year-old junior will line up at tight end and will also handle the Huskies’ long-snapping duties at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC.

“I’m very excited and it is going to be a dream come true,” said Bedard. “I’m from a place in Canada where football is not that big and to be at UConn, playing in this game is incredible. I just love the feeling when we go into a game and there are thousands of people that are watching at the game in the stadium and on TV.

“Wake Forest is a very good team and we played against them last year and we got beat, but we learned from the game and I’m just really excited. I think everyone is.

“I’ve never had any pressure to play hockey rather than football, but I love both sports. My parents were really open and just wanted me to have fun and liked that I wanted to play football. I have been playing hockey since was three or four years old, so I love the game, but football is for me.”

An injury to UConn’s starting tight end earned Bedard an opportunity to see extended playing time this year and late in the Huskies’ 9-3 season he caught two passes for 33 yards. Like any player, he would like to see more of the ball, but is content with his role, which includes the key snap on UConn’s kicking and punting units, heading into the season finale.

While playing for Vieux Montreal, Bedard was named to the CEGEP All-Star team as an accomplished long snapper and was also honored as Specialist of the Year and overall was ranked 18th in the province by Football Quebec.

“I’m pretty happy,” he said. “I really like a challenge and because of that I would have liked to play more but the team is doing well and I’m a team player, so am happy with what is happening.

“I think that my strength is the passing phase of the game because I’m not a very big tight end and I have big hands and good speed and am more of a receiver at the position.

“As a long snapper I’ve never felt any real pressure because just the fact that I am snapping in the NCAA is a really big challenge for me. I think that a snap is a snap and I am just going to do what I have to do and put the ball on the target. There is a little stress but I just like the feeling. It is all part of playing the game.”

When Bedard arrived at Connecticut after a year at a prep school in Canada, he did so with three years of athletic eligibility open to him and four academically, making him a junior on the field and a sophomore in the classroom. The transition from French-speaking Quebec to the American North East provided some challenges, but being a slightly more mature student eased the transition.

“I think it helped me a lot, especially in terms of the culture shock,” admitted Bedard. “Because I’m a French speaking person I was aware when I was first here that I was not good with the English speaking aspect of the language. My age helped me deal with everything. It was a challenge here academically as well as the sporting side of things.”

Recruited as so many Canadians are having attended a Ron Diaz Pro Camp, Bedard first played at UConn in 2006. The Huskies’ schedules have regularly thrown up clashes with fellow Canadians at schools such as Akron and Rutgers and Bedard enjoys lining up against his compatriots. He also appreciates the opportunity to play in NFL stadiums during road games.

“I always look forward to seeing them after the game,” he said. “Jabari Arthur I’ve played against in Montreal and I’ve also played against Kevin Challenger (Boston College), so it’s always fun to see someone from the same place doing well. It gives you a great feeling to know that even at a place where football is not that big, NCAA coaches are still looking for players and not just from a place with a reputation.

“Last year we played at Tampa Bay against South Florida and this year we played in the Steelers stadium. It was so nice and it was so big, which I wasn’t expecting. Montreal has a pro football team but still their stadium is not as big as an NFL stadium.”

When UConn takes on Wake Forest at 1pm on December 29, it will be on the Carolina Panthers’ home field, a venue that the nearby Demon Deacons might also claim as home territory. Connecticut’s three losses have all come away from their own Rentschler Field, suggesting Wake Forest might start as favorites, but Bedard disagrees.

He added: “It is a bowl game and at a neutral site. We are just treating it like every other game we’ve played either home or away. We’re getting prepared for a special game but we’re really just looking for our tenth victory of the season.”

Going in search of that final win and the glory of a bowl game triumph comes at a price, but a small one at that. Bedard will delay reuniting with family and friends back in Quebec for Christmas until after the game.

“We are leaving campus on Friday, the 21st and going are to Charlotte on the 24th,” he explained. “It’s hard, but I’m just thinking about the fact that I’m going to realize one of my dreams from when I was four years old by playing in that game.”

Certainly, the holidays can wait.