By Ronnie Chua @ Shutterstock.com
Your Survival Guy and Fam have a lot of great memories watching Patrice Bergeron lead the Boston Bruins through example. He’ll be missed. Thank you, Bergy.
Jim McBride and the Boston Globe Staff write:
Patrice Bergeron arrived in the big city as a teenager with big hopes and dreams and even bigger odds of sticking with the varsity.
He leaves 20 years later having left an indelible mark on Boston and the Bruins — the organization he played his entire career with.
The Bruins captain met with media Wednesday at TD Garden, a place he called home for 19 seasons, a day after announcing he was closing the professional hockey chapter of his life.
“It was a combination of things,’’ said Bergeron, who turned 38 Monday. “I don’t think I can say it was one thing, or there was one particular time that made me really make that decision. I think it was more over time I knew that.
“So before, when I signed this past summer, I knew it was one year, I was leaving [open] that it might be my last year. So, the whole year I was kind of preparing for that. And over time, with the body and realizing that it was just time for me to kind of move on.’’
Bergeron, who wore the “C’’ on his chest for the last three seasons, said there were multiple thoughts he pondered while weighing his future, but some factors stood out.
“The main thing is probably the body and spending more time with the family,’’ said Bergeron, who welcomed his fourth child this summer. “I wanted to play the game at the highest level that I could, and I felt like I wanted to kind of leave on top of my game and feeling good.’’
Bergeron landed in the Hub as the first of the Bruins’ two second-round picks in 2003; the other selection (trivia alert!), left winger Masi Marjamaki, never came to contract terms with the Bruins and played just one NHL game with the Islanders. Bergeron was not expected to be in the mix for Mike Sullivan’s club.
However, the kid from L’Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec, who spoke little English, kept impressing with his uncanny instincts and two-way play. His acclimation to life as a professional was helped greatly thanks to a fellow Quebecois: Martin Lapointe.
The veteran winger sought out Bergeron in training camp and invited him to stay with the Lapointes at their home north of Boston. The roommates soon became linemates (with Sergei Samsonov) and the relationship was a boon for all parties.
“Marty has had a huge influence on me and my career,’’ Bergeron said. “Just being able to come in, I was an 18-year-old young adult and didn’t know much about the game, the pro sport, the city, you name it, I wasn’t familiar with it.
“Just the fact that he took me under his wing, and the influence that he had and the impact he’s had on me and on my career as well, on and off the ice. The fact that his family was so kind to me is something that I will always be grateful for. I took a moment yesterday to text him about that.’’
Lapointe was one of many people Bergeron reached out to for help on his journey to NHL stardom.
“I felt like yesterday and today is a day of gratitude for myself to go over everything that I’ve been through and the people that I’ve met and the people that have helped me get to this point,’’ he said.
“I think that’s what matters most to me right now, and that’s why I wrote this [retirement] letter to make sure I was really taking the time to really address the people that influenced me, that made an impact, that made this happen, because, obviously, you don’t do this by yourself. I’ve been very fortunate and lucky to be around so many people.’’
Circling back to Lapointe’s influence, Bergeron, long considered a locker room leader well before supplanting Zdeno Chara as captain, said he always tried to pay forward the lessons he learned from that relationship.
“I’ve always tried to emulate what he did to the young guys,’’ he said.
Bergeron will keep his family in Boston at least through the upcoming school year before deciding where to make a permanent home.
Bergeron said the team is “in great hands with all these guys in leadership’’ and he plans to actively root for his teammates but isn’t sure how much time he will spend watching hockey.
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t watching many games even when I was playing,’’ he said with a laugh, adding that he’ll be serving as his family’s “Uber driver’’ for the time being.
E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy
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