By Cami Kepke via Western Hockey League

REGINA, Sask. - On a regular day, during a regular practice with the Regina Pats, Connor Bear felt something rather irregular.

For someone who spends his offseason riding bulls, Bear knows exactly how to push his body to the limit – but the thudding of his heart in his chest on this day felt different. It felt tighter. And it wasn’t slowing down.

This wasn’t a regular feeling on that day in late September.

“Usually when I skate, I get a feeling in my chest of my heart pounding, which is normal, but this time it felt more aggressive and tightening in my chest,” Bear recalled. “When I got off the ice, they checked my heart rate, and my heart rate was 170 (BPM) when I was sitting there, which isn’t normal for a person, I guess.”

The 18-year-old was immediately taken to Regina General Hospital as his parents, Raquel and Tom, rushed in from Whitewood, Sask., to be by his side.

As Bear underwent a battery of tests, the weight of the moment and the grief the family was already experiencing hung in the air.

Less than four years ago, Connor’s brother, Carter, collapsed at an outdoor rink in Moosomin, Sask. and passed away from complications of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

He was 17 years old.

“I’m glad I came home the day before it happened, because I wasn’t supposed to come home that day,” Bear said of his last memories of his beloved older brother. “He was three years older than me, so we didn’t really play together, but whenever we had the chance, we’d always go skate wherever we were.”

While Connor was tested afterward and wasn’t found to have the same condition, he and his family still had difficult conversations around continuing to play- and a pact that Connor would immediately let his parents know if anything unusual came up.

Players like Keets Fawcett, Reese Hamilton, and Maddox Schultz, to name a few, visited Bear in hospital over the following week, while Bear, his family, doctors, and Pats Head Coach Brad Herauf weighed the teenager’s playing future.

“For him, hockey’s the most important thing in the world, but him being healthy, him having a life after hockey, getting married, having a family… To me, that’s always the most important thing for these guys,” Herauf said.

The issue turned out to be a linked to a particular strain of COVID-19, and Bear would need to recover for at least a month before attempting a return to the team.

“I love playing hockey, and I play for my brother, especially,” Bear emphasized. “All the guys here are great, and I love playing with them. I don’t know what I would do without it.”

He spent the following month with a heart monitor and worked closely with his medical team to slowly work on raising his heart rate and building up to full exertion.

Bear also passed the time by focusing on his studies (he’s training to become a pilot and already has 10 flight hours under his belt) and visiting students and athletes in Regina and surrounding First Nations.

Finally, he was cleared to rejoin the Pats on the team’s U.S. Division road trip in late November.

While he wasn’t yet allowed to play, Bear turned to hotel workouts and bag skates whenever he was on the ice to get back to game shape- under close supervision.

“I’m a dad too, and, you know, it’s a scary thing,” Herauf added. “His parents were great. Honestly, they made my life a lot easier. They were the ones that kind of made me feel better. What they’ve had to go through, the whole family’s had to go through already. Just having their blessing that, hey, he wants to be back on the ice. We want him back on the ice. I guess, made it a little easier.

“You take six weeks off, your chest is going to be burning, your heart’s going to be racing. So it’s kind of like in between, is he out of shape, or is this something we should be mindful of? The whole trip, he had a heart rate monitor on, we’re constantly checking it. He was constantly relaying that information to us, because none of us wanted to be responsible for, you know, pushing him too hard, and we wanted to make sure we did what’s right by Connor.”

Finally, after 40 days away, Bear- and a small army of friends, family, and supporters- returned to the Brandt Centre on December 5, 2025, to take on the Brandon Wheat Kings.

While the surging Wheat Kings skated away with the win, Bear was crowned first star of the night.

“I was a little nervous,” Bear admitted. “It felt like coming back from summertime and playing the first preseason game, but I think it went pretty well, and I’m definitely happy to be back. A few of the reserves brought some people over, and then obviously my fan base and my family came up and to watch me in my first game back. It was really exciting and I’m so happy everybody came.”

While Bear is still in touch with his cardiologist and has more check-ups on tap, he’s happy to be back playing the game he loves- and honouring his brother’s memory while he does it.

Bear and the Pats will close out their pre-holiday schedule on Wednesday, December 17, when they host the Prince Albert Raiders.