Bruins’ Patrice Bergeron a player for the ages – Boston Herald
His enduring collaboration with left wing Brad Marchand helped him get back to the 30-goal plateau three times and it gave Marchand, already a driven athlete because of his lack of size, a blueprint on how to be a pro.
“You almost feel like you let him down when you don’t carry your weight every single night,” said Marchand. “I can honestly say I wouldn’t be the same player if I wasn’t given the opportunity play alongside of him.”
Courage is also part of the Bergeron legacy. While he’s been careful with head injuries since the traumatic hit in ’07 — he’s suffered at least three more since then — his toughness cannot be questioned. The laundry list of injuries through which he played in the 2013 Cup finals — torn rib cartilage, a broken rib, separated shoulder and punctured lung — is now legend, but it only scratches the surface, says Marchand.
He pointed to the injury he suffered in the second period in Dallas last November when Bergeron was rammed into the boards hard by the Stars’ Radek Faksa. The injury he suffered would keep him out a month — but not until he played the third period.
The club described it as a “rib and sternoclavicular injury” in a press release, but Marchand used layman’s terms.
“Essentially, his whole body was broken, the whole upper half. And he still came back to play,” marveled Marchand. “It’s incredible what he’s willing to sacrifice for the group.”
I mean, I guess it's not like he hasn't broken his entire upper body before, but good grief