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Over the years, Brian Bellows has found great success with a particular philosophy. It’s about knowing yourself and your limitations, and it’s about managing the stresses and demands of a hockey player’s life.

“You have to know what league you are in,” NHL veteran Bellows stated. Bellows has played in 1,188 games. “You need to be aware of whether you play on the varsity, JV, or rookie teams.”

He is discussing drinking.

Additionally, he is discussing his 18-year-old status in the NHL.

“I grew up in the 1980s,” Bellows chuckled. It’s not as though many IDs were scrutinized in the past. Everyone made sure to hang out and went out together.

Bellows was a very young eighteen years old when he entered the NHL. At eighteen years and thirty-six days, he played in his first NHL game in Winnipeg — he was an adult, but not quite. Like Connor Bedard, who turned 18 a few weeks ago after the Chicago Blackhawks selected him first overall in the 2023 draft. Bedard frequently states, “I’m just an 18-year-old kid.”

A child.

“In the ’80s and ’90s, we stayed overnight almost 99 percent of the time,” Bellows said. “Can you imagine that? Then you wake up the next day at 6 to catch an 8 o’clock commercial flight through Chicago. (North Stars general manager) Lou Nanne set up a deal where, every time we went east, it was on American Airlines and we had to go through O’Hare. So not only were you flying commercial, you were connecting.”

Hence, the North Stars were drinking alcohol on the plane rather than working off the alcohol on the ice. Not even on a commercial flight. After the kind of nights these guys were having, even short flights seemed like long ones. Not only was partying encouraged but it was required.

Bedard is a boy among men, one of the youngest players in NHL history. “Just a kid,” he said of himself. It wasn’t too long ago that he would be brought to jail regardless of his desire. Whether it was in the locker room or at a team dinner, he would be instructed to remain silent until someone spoke to him. His opponents’ goons would practically target him every night for having the audacity to believe that, at such a young age, he belonged in the NHL.

It’s different now, though. The league is considerably healthier, a little kinder, and a little more progressive. It appears certain that Bedard will have a letter on his jersey before long because he already commands the respect of his more experienced teammates in the room.