SAN JOSE, Calif. — In June, Jared Bednar held aloft the Calder Cup, celebrating winning an American Hockey League title as a coach with the Cleveland-based Lake Erie Monsters, and he soon was rewarded with a new two-year contract to continue with the Columbus Blue Jackets’ affiliate. Previously, he had raised the ECHL’s Kelly Cup, twice as a player and once as a head coach with the Charleston-based South Carolina Stingrays.
For 23 years, as a career journeyman defenseman and then as an assistant and head coach, Bednar had paid his dues in the minor leagues … and then some.