The Athletic - Boston FLUTO: Already battered, Bruins ponder life without their most important player

[Fenway]

There is one stat from Saturday night that says it all. Look at faceoffs won by the Bruins

DURING Game 5 of the 2013 SCF, Bergie was rushed by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago which is a little further away from the United Center than another top-tier hospital in Chicago but it is considered the best hospital in the region.

They were going to ADMIT him and only released him on the word of a Bruins team doctor from Mass General that he would be admitted at MGH as soon as the charter landed. He wasn't and played in Game 6 and THEN spent a few days at MGH.

Bergie is the de facto captain of the Bruins and everybody close to the team knows that. This is not a knock on Chara at all as he is a pillar in the room as well. It is the same dynamic the Big Bad Bruins had where Bucyk wore the C but Bobby was the captain in the room.

To this day I can't believe he recovered from this awful moment in 2007.







Already battered, Bruins ponder life without their most...

GLENDALE, Ariz. — It is somewhat puzzling that a team can lose an entire six-pack’s worth of defensemen and still keep its collective head held high.

It is not a mystery, however, that this same head begins to droop with the addition of a certain someone to the list of the lame.

In terms of numbers, losing Zdeno Chara (left knee), Charlie McAvoy (head), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Kevan Miller (right hand), John Moore (lower body), and Urho Vaakanainen (head) represents a 6-to-1 ratio of blue-line bodies lost compared to the one that’s now absent up front.

But it was not just any forward who watched Saturday’s game against Arizona from the Gila River Arena press box.

It was Patrice Bergeron.

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[smithformeragent]

I wrote him off after the concussions. Thought he was done offensively and he was a checking line defensive minded center at that point.

The guy has been an absolute warrior and the epitome of a Bruin.

I don’t like short changing what Chara means to this organization.

EVERYTHING changed with Z.

 

[Bruinaura]

From the article:

Bergeron has logged 37:37 of shorthanded ice time, most of any team forward entering Saturday’s game.

Because of course.

I wasn't following the Bruins back in 2007 but from everything I've read, I can understand why people thought he'd be done, especially after it sounds like he looked pretty terrible at his press conference.

I didn't realize they were going to admit him in Chicago. That makes it even more nuts. I mean, I love his "I will do anything" mentality, but that really does cross a line. Which is why I don't understand them letting him come back Friday night. He was acting the same way he did in game 5, where it was obvious there was something significant going on. Of course, I don't know this, but I'm afraid he made it worse taking that faceoff on the PK at the start of the third, when he started grabbing his shoulder. And then later he gets involved in that shoving match.

Anyway, whatever is wrong with him now, I hope he heals quickly. Along with all the other injured guys.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

I wrote him off after the concussions. Thought he was done offensively and he was a checking line defensive minded center at that point.

The guy has been an absolute warrior and the epitome of a Bruin.

I don’t like short changing what Chara means to this organization.

EVERYTHING changed with Z.

Been on this bus for years. Z will go down as one of the best to put that spoked B on.

Love the guy. Class act

 

[Coach Parker]

Keep
Calm
Without
Bergeron

 

[LouJersey]

There will never be another like him. He is the definition of Bruin. He’s also the definition of man. You can only hope your sons grow up to be someone like him and that your daughters marry someone like him

 

[ODAAT]

I hope Z and the others get well soon and come back hungry as I`m sure they will. This team is going to be a whole lotta boring to watch with all those injuries, just hoping the team can hold it together until some healthy bodies return

 

[RustyBruins72]

There will never be another like him. He is the definition of Bruin. He’s also the definition of man. You can only hope your sons grow up to be someone like him and that your daughters marry someone like him

I don't know if people realize how proud I was to see him on the Canadian Olympic team for the first time in 2010. The world found out how complete a player he is.

I followed this guy after he was drafted and was told he was the best player at the 2005 World Juniors in Grand Forks and that includes Sid.

I agree with Lou that he is the definition of Bruin.

I know 33 and 37 will hang from the rafters not long after they're done playing.

 

[BruinDust]

I don't know if people realize how proud I was to see him on the Canadian Olympic team for the first time in 2010. The world found out how complete a player he is.

I followed this guy after he was drafted and was told he was the best player at the 2005 World Juniors in Grand Forks and that includes Sid.

I agree with Lou that he is the definition of Bruin.

I know 33 and 37 will hang from the rafters not long after they're done playing.

We've seen some pretty good and important players come through Boston in the past decade.

But it's really been the Chara/Bergeron era, those are the two constants who have defined this team for a decade. Teams built around the best two-way center in game, and the best D-man from the blue-line back.

 

[Kalus]

I don't know if people realize how proud I was to see him on the Canadian Olympic team for the first time in 2010. The world found out how complete a player he is.

I followed this guy after he was drafted and was told he was the best player at the 2005 World Juniors in Grand Forks and that includes Sid.

I agree with Lou that he is the definition of Bruin.

I know 33 and 37 will hang from the rafters not long after they're done playing.

I was at the game where Randy Jones almost ended Bergy's career. I thought he'd never walk again with memories of Travis Roy in my head.

Shortly after the incident, he sat in front of the media and relayed the struggles he was going through physically and mentally.

He sat there in a neck brace and was clearly far from healed, headaches, insomnia, depression, sensitivity to light, all that stuff. He put himself through this simply to raise awareness and ask that his fellow players wisen up and cut out the hits from behind.

This was 10 years ago, when the awareness around concussions was in its infancy for fans like me. I am sure all he wanted to do was lie in a dark room, but here he was, suffering through the discomfort, simply to campaign for a change in the game so others wouldn't have to go through what he was going through. Guy was in his early 20s at the time.

Classic Patrice. Absolute stud and, the way he carries himself and goes about life, an inspiration for all of us.

 

[BMC]

When Randy Motherf***ing Jones hit Patrice there was a moment when I actually thought Patrice was dead. The impact of his body against the board/glass, watching his body slide down onto the ice and remain motionless I clearly remember thinking that. And that terrible silence in the Garden. Everybody knew it was bad.

 

[BradPark22]

When Randy Mother****ing Jones hit Patrice there was a moment when I actually thought Patrice was dead. The impact of his body against the board/glass, watching his body slide down onto the ice and remain motionless I clearly remember thinking that. And that terrible silence in the Garden. Everybody knew it was bad.

I was at that game. You could hear a pin drop when the medical staff was working on him and getting him on the stretcher. The image of Bergeron's legs twitching as he laid there unconscious will never leave my mind. I honestly thought his career was over

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

When Randy Mother****ing Jones hit Patrice there was a moment when I actually thought Patrice was dead. The impact of his body against the board/glass, watching his body slide down onto the ice and remain motionless I clearly remember thinking that. And that terrible silence in the Garden. Everybody knew it was bad.

Same here.

Jones got what, two games for nearly murdering Bergeron?

 

[BMC]

Same here.

Jones got what, two games for nearly murdering Bergeron?

I believe you are right. f***ing disgrace.

 

[KnightofBoston]

Same here.

Jones got what, two games for nearly murdering Bergeron?

I felt this way when Horton was hit and his arm was sticking straight in the air. Turned my stomach.

 

[GordonHowe]

I wrote him off after the concussions. Thought he was done offensively and he was a checking line defensive minded center at that point.

The guy has been an absolute warrior and the epitome of a Bruin.

I don’t like short changing what Chara means to this organization.

EVERYTHING changed with Z.

Z is the captain of the Boston Bruins. He has been since arriving, and he is today. I love Patrice. It's 1A and 1B. When Z leaves the scene, *then* #37 will be captain.

 

[GordonHowe]

When Randy Mother****ing Jones hit Patrice there was a moment when I actually thought Patrice was dead. The impact of his body against the board/glass, watching his body slide down onto the ice and remain motionless I clearly remember thinking that. And that terrible silence in the Garden. Everybody knew it was bad.

I was watching at home. It almost made sick to stomach, literally. I remember pacing around while he lay motionless on the ice. Awful.

And then Jones, "I'm not that kind of player, blah effing blah." That made me sick in a different way.

 

[BMC]

I was watching at home. It almost made sick to stomach, literally. I remember pacing around while he lay motionless on the ice. Awful.

And then Jones, "I'm not that kind of player, blah effing blah." That made me sick in a different way.

"not that kind of player" my ass Yeah I know what you mean by sick in a different way.

 

[Donnie Shulzhoffer]

I was watching at home. It almost made sick to stomach, literally. I remember pacing around while he lay motionless on the ice. Awful.

And then Jones, "I'm not that kind of player, blah effing blah." That made me sick in a different way.

"not that kind of player" my ass Yeah I know what you mean by sick in a different way.

Even if Jones did think that before hand I would have told him, "Well congratulations! You are now!"

 

[Terrier]

98.5 saying Bergie "out for extended period of time". Jaffe will be on at 12:50.

 

[TD Charlie]

98.5 saying Bergie "out for extended period of time". Jaffe will be on at 12:50.

I feel like Rex at the beginning of Toy Story, shaking the table screaming “what is it!?!?” And knocking the walkie off the table

Now we just wait for Buzz to show up unannounced on the bed.

 

[ODAAT]

I believe you are right. ****ing disgrace.

Yep, what was equally disgraceful here was the pages on pages of posts from fans who, in the year following his return from the Jones hit, so many wrote him off, wanting to move him, damaged goods etc.....

 

[DKH]

A month with shoulder

Opportunity

 

[ODAAT]

Not saying this is the answer, more asking but did I not read that Heinen played a bit of C in College? I read here Cave and Frederic are injured so likely no call up but would this be an option if my memory is correct and he slid into the C role at times?

 

[Fenway]