In Patrice Bergeron, the Bruins and Boston found the best version of themselves
Beyond his stats and trophies, Patrice Bergeron left an impact unlike many other Boston sports legends.
COMMENTARY
In a game predicated on mistakes and unpredictable bounces, Patrice Bergeron stood as an outlier.
For many of his peers out on the frozen sheet, Bergeron represented the perfect blend of talent, smarts, will, and leadership.
For the Bruins fans who saw him take to the ice in Boston for close to two decades, he was as close to a steadying presence as one can find in the maelstrom of organized chaos that is hockey.
It was an expectation, not a hope, that opposing scoring chances were getting snuffed out when No. 37 hopped over the boards.
Past history offered hope that no deficit was too great for the local club, not with a competitor like Bergeron keeping his team afloat in those frantic final moments.
It’s why now — hours after Bergeron announced the end of his Hall-of-Fame career — that Bruins fans feel rudderless in the wake of a franchise icon’s absence.
Because Bergeron’s impact on this Original Six franchise, and the city of Boston through a larger lens, goes far beyond his accomplishments forged out on the ice.
A fresh-faced kid out of Quebec, Bergeron ingratiated himself to many locals by chugging down the Zakim Bridge on a Zamboni next to Andrew Raycroft.
By the time he raised his stick on the Garden ice for a final hurrah on April 30, 2023, Bergeron became as synonymous with this city as the cable-stayed bridge he once rumbled over.
In between those two moments, Bergeron compiled a resume that will soon see his No. 37 lifted to the rafters at TD Garden.
His body of work speaks for itself.
- 1,294 games in a black-and-gold sweater — the third most in franchise history.
- 427 goals — third all-time among Bruins.
- 1,040 points — third behind only Ray Bourque and Johnny Bucyk.
- Six Selke Trophies — more than any other player in league history.
- Two Olympic Gold Medals with Team Canada.
- A World Junior title with Canada.
- And of course, one Stanley Cup championship with Boston.
There’s no shortage of franchise-defining moments that Bergeron crafted over his 19 years in Boston.
The sounds of Dave Goucher’s “Bergeron! Bergeron!” call from Boston’s Game 7 comeback triumph over the Maple Leafs in 2013 will still reverberate from radio stations and TV sets for years to come.
A photo of Bergeron hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup after scoring two goals in Vancouver’s Rogers Arena is plastered in every sports dive bar from Bar Harbor to Barnstable.
Pucks sailing into twine and lifting hockey’s top prize understandably serve as emphatic stamps on Bergeron’s career highlight reel.
But the legacy of a player like Bergeron can’t be measured in just trophies or flashy stats.
The greatest defensive forward in NHL history, a timely stick lift or poke check from Bergeron often held as much weight in a game as whatever tally he secured down the other end of the ice.
A Bergeron shift is often where opponents’ scoring opportunities went to die. The faceoff circle was his domain, with the drama of a late-game D-zone draw often dissipating with a decisive win by Boston’s captain.
But beyond his 200-foot mastery, Bergeron represented something far greater to both his team and the city.
Bergeron’s two-way dominance and clutch play might have helped usher in one of the most fruitful chapters of the Bruins’ 99-year history. But it was his leadership, class, and principles off the ice that will carry on now that he has hung up his skates for good.
“What you built here is special and I promise I’ll do everything I can to take good care of it,” Charlie McAvoy said in the Bruins’ thank-you video posted on Tuesday afternoon.
Taken under the wing of fellow Québécois Martin Lapointe during his early years in Boston, Bergeron helped Zdeno Chara craft a team culture centered on communication, accountability, and inclusiveness.
“Without that, you cannot win,” Chara said during his own retirement address back in September 2022. “You need a culture. You need to have players that want to follow. It was a team effort. I could have never done it without Patrice.”
When Bergeron spoke, his teammates listened.
“He’s a legend,” Jake DeBrusk said of Bergeron’s address prior to Boston’s Game 6 road victory over the Blues in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final. “It was just about what we all dream about doing. We’re here for a reason and everyone who plays hockey grows up and dreams of playing in this moment. To see him kind of set the tone that way — it made us want to run through a wall.”
His words carried weight far beyond whatever edicts were barked out from the bench or messages relayed during intermissions.
In the immediate aftermath of the Bruins’ decision to sign Mitchell Miller back in November, Bergeron and other veterans in Boston’s dressing room spoke out against it. He released a statement following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 and donated $50,000 to social justice groups in both Boston and Quebec.
To his teammates, Bergeron was a reassuring presence and a willing outlet to vent frustrations or express concerns far beyond the game they play.
Despite playing just three games with Boston during the 2018-19 season, Gemel Smith noted in a TSN interview that Bergeron reached out to him right away and helped him through mental-health struggles at that stage of his career.
“He’s always worried about, ‘How do I help you? How do I help you? How do I help the next guy?’ He’s always trying to find ways to help the entire group,” Brad Marchand said of Bergeron back in April. “It’s not an easy thing to do.
“The more I’m around and the more I see how he does it, I’ve tried to do it. It’s very difficult to do. You’re always trying to improve your own game. To then have to take on another 25 guys, worry about how you’re helping them improve and help them achieve success, it’s impressive.”
Amid 60 minutes of bone-crunching checks and post-whistle scuffles, Bergeron forged a reputation as an infallible statesman of the game, quick to dole out encouragement and concern for fellow players across the league.
His adherence to the principles of class, camaraderie, and accountability were matched only by his will to win.
Close to 400 miles separates Boston from Bergeron’s hometown of L’Ancienne-Lorette in Quebec.
But it didn’t take long for Bruins fans to take Bergeron as one of their own. And he reciprocated that belief by battering his body time and time again for his club.
That steadfastness in search of hockey immortality exacted a heavy toll.
A severe concussion in 2007 nearly ended the 22-year-old Bergeron’s career before it started to reach new heights. He fought through severe post-concussion symptoms en route to a return the following year.
After the Bruins fell to the Blackhawks in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, Bergeron spent three days in a hospital. With Boston on the brink of a title, Bergeron suited up and played through a broken rib, torn rib cartilage and a separated right shoulder. Playing through a cracked rib in Game 6 against Chicago led to a punctured — and eventually collapsed — lung.
Even in his final games with Boston during their crushing first-round exit against the Panthers this spring, Bergeron tried to will his team to wins with a herniated disc in his back.
The sight of a teary Bergeron standing as the last man on the Garden ice on April 30 stands as a reminder that few careers are graced with the storybook endings usually only penned in Hollywood.
But it was never due to a lack of effort on the part of Bergeron.
As I step away today, I have no regrets,” Bergeron concluded in his farewell letter on Tuesday. “I have only gratitude that I lived my dream, and excitement for what is next for my family and I.”
Bruins fans should share a similar sentiment, as painful as Tuesday’s news is.
Because for 19 years, Bergeron was more than just a franchise fixture for the team our families have rallied behind for decades.
He wasn’t just an adored adopted son of Boston.
Rather, he was the best of what we strive to be. Both within the sporting sphere so important to all of us, and outside of the rink, field and court.
And that’s what made Patrice Bergeron unlike any other.
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