The first exceptional status player in the history of the WHL is reacting to the second delay of his rookie season.

The WHL pushed back the start date of their season after previously announcing a January 8th start date, citing current state and provincial restrictions as a reason for the delay. The WHL has not released an official start date at this time.

Pats prospect Connor Bedard was on 620 CKRM’s The Sportscage Wednesday, and says this situation is not ideal for him.

“That’s pretty out of my control, and I’m hoping obviously that we can go, but I guess we’ll see,” Bedard said. “Only time will tell.”

Bedard says this does not change his training routine, which sees him working out six days a week.

“I’m still going to be doing the same thing, and then when I plan to go out (to Regina) eventually, I’ll go out then,” Bedard said. “For now, I’m still just trying to skate and get into the gym.”

Bedard says he’s excited to play in front of a Regina crowd, hopefully this season.

“Obviously I’m just as excited to start playing over there, so that’s really good to feel accepted like that,” Bedard said. “Obviously, hopefully we can do some good things in the future and give them something to watch that’s good.”

Earlier this year, Bedard was training and playing with the HV71 under 20 team in Sweden, but that season was shut down and Bedard came home in November.

While with HV71, Bedard scored two goals and added two assists in four games, with an overall rating of minus-three.