Patrice Bergeron looks on during the second period of a game against the Calgary Flames at TD Garden on Jan. 3, 2019 in Boston, Mass.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
In the next couple of days, leading up to Tuesday night at the TD Garden in Boston, the NHL player who defines flying under the radar will be the centre of attention.
Patrice Bergeron, who also defines terms such as team player, two-way player, 200-foot player and other tags coaches love, will play his 1,000th NHL game on Tuesday night. That is a singular achievement by itself but even more remarkable is Bergeron played all of them for the Boston Bruins in an age when players routinely change teams as soon as their contracts expire.
This is not to say Bergeron somehow remained unknown over the past 16 years while working his way into being one of the best players in hockey. He is the centre on one of the top two or three lines in the NHL between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, he is a fixture on the Canadian men’s team with gold medals from the 2004 world championship, the 2010 and 2014 Olympics and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. He also has a Stanley Cup with the Bruins (2011). There is also a gold from the 2005 world junior championship.
Individually, Bergeron practically owns the Frank Selke Trophy, given annually to the best defensive forward. Since 2009, when he hit his stride as a professional player after shaking off almost two years of the debilitating effects of a concussion, Bergeron has won the Selke four times. This ties him with Bob Gainey, for whom the award was essentially invented in 1978, for the most wins. There is almost no doubt Bergeron will win at least one more.
However, Bergeron’s name never comes up when the game’s superstars are discussed. He has never been part of the conversation with Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Alexander Ovechkin, Erik Karlsson, et al. But he is revered by peers such as Crosby, his linemate on those Olympic and World Cup winners.
“He’s the vital piece,” former teammate Rich Peverley told Sportsnet. “Just look at Sidney Crosby: Who does he always want to play with when he goes to Team Canada?”
Bergeron is the vital piece because he may not be the best stickhandler or shooter or skater in the game, but he does everything well. He is among the smartest players, he can win faceoffs, be among the best at both ends of the rink, kills penalties and plays on the power play.
Bergeron is the master of doing all the little things that add up to winning. Just ask the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans. In the spring of 2013, the Leafs were on the verge of a huge playoff upset, leading the Bruins 4-1 early in the third period of Game 7 in their first-round series. Then, with 51 seconds left in the third period, Bergeron scored on a screen shot to force overtime. A little more than six minutes into overtime, Bergeron won the game when the puck bounced to him off Leaf defenceman Jake Gardiner’s skate.
Five years later, Bergeron and the Bruins did it to the Leafs again, taking away a lead in Game 7 to win the playoff series. But this time, Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak dominated the Leafs throughout, rebounding from a couple of quiet games that let the series get to seven games to bury the Leafs in the third period. Bergeron played the central role in the final game with a goal and two assists, which made him the Bruins’ all-time leader in Game 7s with nine career points.
Bergeron accomplished all this thanks to a relentless work ethic, one that transformed him from a good, but unheralded, junior player to someone whom his contemporaries swear is still getting better at the age of 33 in a league where youth is king.
When the Bruins selected Bergeron in the second round of the 2003 NHL entry draft from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League they knew they had someone with the potential to be a good NHL player, but only with a lot of work. After all, he was not a heralded first-rounder even if a couple of Bruins scouts rated him that high. He was also coming to the big city from a small Quebec City suburb and did not speak English.
But Bergeron surprised them with his now legendary work habits. He made the team as an 18-year-old, something that is practically unheard of for a second-round pick, was a contender for the NHL’s rookie-of-the-year award and taught himself to speak English in his first couple of seasons. He also proved to be a voracious student of the game, studying everything from the usual plays and tendencies of forwards and defencemen to how goaltenders handle themselves in different situations.
Then came his biggest challenge – recovering from a serious concussion sustained Oct. 27, 2007 when he was hit by Randy Jones of the Philadelphia Flyers. Bergeron missed the rest of the 2007-08 season, a total of 72 games, and he has said he never felt fully recovered until 2009.
Since then, however, Bergeron’s path has been an upward curve, with seven seasons of 20 goals or more, including three seasons of more than 30. Despite missing 16 games with a rib injury this season, he has 16 goals in 35 games, making another 20-goal season a near-certainty.
And, of course, he’ll be in that Selke conversation, too.