Player Discussion Zdeno Chara - III

[GordonHowe]

Oooooooooh, this should be good

Oooooh, I wish I had access to it!

 

[GordonHowe]

This is a wonderful person, a man all children could use as a role model. Perhaps some adults too ! Z and Bergy, does it get a y better?

I don't believe you do. These two are my heroes. And I'm 56.

 

[TD Charlie]

I don't believe you do. These two are my heroes. And I'm 56.

i tried to explain to a friend, a very casual hockey fan, the impact Bergeron has had on this team and city. His career, from his tiny little body speaking barely a word of English when he was drafted, to quickly becoming an offensive threat at wing, Randy f***ing Jones almost killing him, coming back and TOTALLY reinventing his game and his career, now he’s better than before and doesn’t age. He just gets everything right on and off the ice. He is the perfect player. Period.

Chara is quickly climbing the ranks as well. He’s a very quiet type of leader obviously, but I’m noticing his presence more the last few years. He seems like such a calming presence in all he does and i find it extremely admirable. He’s another guy that just does everything right.

how lucky we are

 

[JOKER 192]

I don't believe you do. These two are my heroes. And I'm 56.

I'm 57 I win, but not really cause I agree. Your a whole year ahead of your time.

 

[GordonHowe]

i tried to explain to a friend, a very casual hockey fan, the impact Bergeron has had on this team and city. His career, from his tiny little body speaking barely a word of English when he was drafted, to quickly becoming an offensive threat at wing, Randy f***ing Jones almost killing him, coming back and TOTALLY reinventing his game and his career, now he’s better than before and doesn’t age. He just gets everything right on and off the ice. He is the perfect player. Period.

Chara is quickly climbing the ranks as well. He’s a very quiet type of leader obviously, but I’m noticing his presence more the last few years. He seems like such a calming presence in all he does and i find it extremely admirable. He’s another guy that just does everything right.

how lucky we are

The story about Patrice at a very early age was that he sat in the goalmouth watching as other kids played the game. Absorbing. And then he got up, and began to play.

As for Z, he's been a great captain for a great many years, perhaps well before some of us knew. He was the engine -- along with Peter Chiarelli and Claude Julien -- that reignited the Bruins train. If not for him, forget it.

It sounds trite, but these two, as well as many others, brought back pride and a winning culture to the Boston Bruins.

 

[GordonHowe]

I'm 57 I win, but not really cause I agree. Your a whole year ahead of your time.

BTW, I couldn't respond to your bit with Gordon Lightfoot about the Pistols.

Huge fan. To me, Never Mind the Bollocks is the greatest rock and roll (yes) I've ever heard. Chris Thomas, who also produced the Pretenders first album, really caught their sound. Comprised mostly of singles and add=on's, it's fantastic.

BTW again, Steve Jones was a *great* elemental lead guitar player, Lydon was Lydon (effing hilarious and a jerk, but my kind of jerk), Matlock a fine pop songwriter, and Cook a good drummer.

PS I didn't understand PIL's first album at the time, but appreciated that it was weird, and different. If you were growing up in the late 70s AOR era, that was enough.

Shook Lydon's hand at a Paradise show in '85. He was wearing pajamas.

 

[JOKER 192]

i tried to explain to a friend, a very casual hockey fan, the impact Bergeron has had on this team and city. His career, from his tiny little body speaking barely a word of English when he was drafted, to quickly becoming an offensive threat at wing, Randy f***ing Jones almost killing him, coming back and TOTALLY reinventing his game and his career, now he’s better than before and doesn’t age. He just gets everything right on and off the ice. He is the perfect player. Period.

Chara is quickly climbing the ranks as well. He’s a very quiet type of leader obviously, but I’m noticing his presence more the last few years. He seems like such a calming presence in all he does and i find it extremely admirable. He’s another guy that just does everything right.

how lucky we are

Do you know what his full name is? In Quebec, since the early eighties, children born after that time took the family names of both their parents. His real name is Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. In Quebec, because of politics, anything pertaining to an anglophone slant is quickly brushed under he carpet. Bergeron is his mothers maiden name , Cleary is his fathers name. In Quebec, one quickly learns that if you want to advance, it's best to lose all ties to any anglophone slant, therefore Cleary got brushed under the carpet. Cleary is a Gaelic name. He was raised in a bi-lingual household and capable of speaking both languages (French and English) fluently. He was better at speaking French than he was at English simply because when you are brought up in L'Ancienne-Lorette,Quebec, 97% of the community is Francophone. Take it from me, if Patrice can speak English without any accent like he does, it because he was exposed to English (from his father) very early on in life .Otherwise he would sound like many other Quebec born hockey players like Serge Savard, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Patrick Roy and so on, all capable of speaking English but not without their french accent. Bergy speaks without a french accent because he was fully capable of speaking English early on in life.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Do you know what his full name is? In Quebec, since the early eighties, children born after that time took the family names of both their parents. His real name is Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. In Quebec, because of politics, anything pertaining to an anglophone slant is quickly brushed under he carpet. Bergeron is his mothers maiden name , Cleary is his fathers name. In Quebec, one quickly learns that if you want to advance, it's best to lose all ties to any anglophone slant, therefore Cleary got brushed under the carpet. Cleary is a Gaelic name. He was raised in a bi-lingual household and capable of speaking both languages (French and English) fluently. He was better at speaking French than he was at English simply because when you are brought up in L'Ancienne-Lorette,Quebec, 97% of the community is Francophone. Take it from me, if Patrice can speak English without any accent like he does, it because he was exposed to English (from his father) very early on in life .Otherwise he would sound like many other Quebec born hockey players like Serge Savard, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Patrick Roy and so on, all capable of speaking English but not without their french accent. Bergy speaks without a french accent because he was fully capable of speaking English early on in life.

Sorry but this is incorrect. In this article Bergeron discusses in his own words how he knew very little English when he first joined the Bruins in 2003, and his early struggles with learning the language:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/patrice-bergeron-boston-bruins-nhl-playoffs

Some key parts:

"I was barely a legal adult when I first joined the Bruins in 2003...Learning to play at this level was a huge challenge on its own, but complicating things even more was the fact that I knew very little English.

I pretty much only had the basics down: hello, goodbye, thank you, backcheck and whatever else I could remember from the English classes that I hadn’t paid enough attention to while I was growing up in Quebec.

Early on there were so many times when I’d go to restaurants and I wouldn’t know how to pronounce anything on the menu. But on top of that my accent was superthick, so even if I made a go of it, there was pretty much no shot that the server would understand what I was trying to say. So I made a habit of just ordering the same thing as the person sitting next to me. I figured it would just be simpler that way. Granted the system had its flaws, but I ate.

Sometime during my rookie year, I was doing an interview on camera and I was trying to describe the feeling of playing in the NHL as “unbelievable.” The only problem was my English was nooot advanced enough for me to pronounce the word unbelievable. I mean, I could barely order a meal at that point much less pronounce five-syllable words. On camera interviews made me super nervous for that reason, and that wasn’t good because when I was nervous my English somehow got 10 times worse.

So during that interview, I found myself staring down the barrel of a camera sounding like a baby attempting to say his first words.

“It’s unbuh….”
“It’s unbuh-luh….”
“Un-buhhh….”
“Unbu-lu-lu … uhhh….”
“It was great!”

Don’t know where the tape of that interview is. Hopefully in a trash dump somewhere."

He also spoke about this during NESN's Bergeron at 1000 program. So Bergy's current fluency in English and relative lack of accent is simply due to hard work and the fact that he's Bergeron, so you wouldn't expect anything else than being really good at anything he puts his mind to.

 

[JOKER 192]

BTW, I couldn't respond to your bit with Gordon Lightfoot about the Pistols.

Huge fan. To me, Never Mind the Bollocks is the greatest rock and roll (yes) I've ever heard. Chris Thomas, who also produced the Pretenders first album, really caught their sound. Comprised mostly of singles and add=on's, it's fantastic.

BTW again, Steve Jones was a *great* elemental lead guitar player, Lydon was Lydon (effing hilarious and a jerk, but my kind of jerk), Matlock a fine pop songwriter, and Cook a good drummer.

PS I didn't understand PIL's first album at the time, but appreciated that it was weird, and different. If you were growing up in the late 70s AOR era, that was enough.

Shook Lydon's hand at a Paradise show in '85. He was wearing pajamas.

While Lydon himself admits that he's "the Kiss of death to most people" I think he's brilliant.

When you write lyrics like

f*** this and f*** that
f*** it all and f*** the f***ing brat

you may lose a little credibility as a lyricist but this guy was as sharp as blade, he knew exactly what he was doing, when and how to do it.

Way smarter than he would let on.

 

[GordonHowe]

While Lydon himself admits that he's "the Kiss of death to most people" I think he's brilliant.

When you write lyrics like

f*** this and f*** that
f*** it all and f*** the f***ing brat

you may lose a little credibility as a lyricist but this guy was as sharp as blade, he knew exactly what he was doing, when and how to do it.

Way smarter than he would let on.

"Bodies." Agree. Lydon was great good fun.

 

[JOKER 192]

Sorry but this is incorrect. In this article Bergeron discusses in his own words how he knew very little English when he first joined the Bruins in 2003, and his early struggles with learning the language:

https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/patrice-bergeron-boston-bruins-nhl-playoffs

Some key parts:

"I was barely a legal adult when I first joined the Bruins in 2003...Learning to play at this level was a huge challenge on its own, but complicating things even more was the fact that I knew very little English.

I pretty much only had the basics down: hello, goodbye, thank you, backcheck and whatever else I could remember from the English classes that I hadn’t paid enough attention to while I was growing up in Quebec.

Early on there were so many times when I’d go to restaurants and I wouldn’t know how to pronounce anything on the menu. But on top of that my accent was superthick, so even if I made a go of it, there was pretty much no shot that the server would understand what I was trying to say. So I made a habit of just ordering the same thing as the person sitting next to me. I figured it would just be simpler that way. Granted the system had its flaws, but I ate.

Sometime during my rookie year, I was doing an interview on camera and I was trying to describe the feeling of playing in the NHL as “unbelievable.” The only problem was my English was nooot advanced enough for me to pronounce the word unbelievable. I mean, I could barely order a meal at that point much less pronounce five-syllable words. On camera interviews made me super nervous for that reason, and that wasn’t good because when I was nervous my English somehow got 10 times worse.

So during that interview, I found myself staring down the barrel of a camera sounding like a baby attempting to say his first words.

“It’s unbuh….”
“It’s unbuh-luh….”
“Un-buhhh….”
“Unbu-lu-lu … uhhh….”
“It was great!”

Don’t know where the tape of that interview is. Hopefully in a trash dump somewhere."

He also spoke about this during NESN's Bergeron at 1000 program. So Bergy's current fluency in English and relative lack of accent is simply due to hard work and the fact that he's Bergeron, so you wouldn't expect anything else than being really good at anything he puts his mind to.

Doesn't correspond with what I heard but we'll agree to disagree.

As someone who has lived his entire life in Quebec, if you're twenty years old before you start to learn English there is no way your losing that accent.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

Doesn't correspond with what I heard but we'll agree to disagree.

As someone who has lived his entire life in Quebec, if you're twenty years old before you start to learn English there is no way your losing that accent.

Agree to disagree? This article was written by Bergeron. In his interview with NESN he's talking about his own personal experiences. How can you claim to know better than Bergy about his own life and upbringing? He has said on multiple occasions that when he moved to Boston as an 18-year-old he could only speak a few words of English, his comprehension was poor and his Quebec accent was thick. He attended English classes at school but doesn't appear to have paid too much attention in them.

I don't doubt you personal experience but this goes beyond mere opinion of how things should be. Either it is indeed possible for a Quebecois to not learn English properly until 18+ and still end up very fluent in the language with a lighter accent, or Bergeron is lying or at least misremembering about his past. Those are the only two options. So which is it?

 

[JOKER 192]

Agree to disagree? This article was written by Bergeron. In his interview with NESN he's talking about his own personal experiences. How can you claim to know better than Bergy about his own life and upbringing? He has said on multiple occasions that when he moved to Boston as an 18-year-old he could only speak a few words of English, his comprehension was poor and his Quebec accent was thick. He attended English classes at school but doesn't appear to have paid too much attention in them.

I don't doubt you personal experience but this goes beyond mere opinion of how things should be. Either it is indeed possible for a Quebecois to not learn English properly until 18+ and still end up very fluent in the language with a lighter accent, or Bergeron is lying or at least misremembering about his past. Those are the only two options. So which is it?

It doesn't correspond with the info I have but if that's straight from him nothing left to say.

 

[jgatie]

"Bodies." Agree. Lydon was great good fun.

Saw PiL at the Orpheum back in the late 80's. They played behind a huge screen hung in front of the stage, all you saw was silhouettes. Lydon said it was because "You don't deserve to see me." Still an awesome show. Got a PiL T-Shirt that just said "T-Shirt" (like the "Album" album). Wish I still had it.

 

[jgatie]

Agree to disagree? This article was written by Bergeron. In his interview with NESN he's talking about his own personal experiences. How can you claim to know better than Bergy about his own life and upbringing? He has said on multiple occasions that when he moved to Boston as an 18-year-old he could only speak a few words of English, his comprehension was poor and his Quebec accent was thick. He attended English classes at school but doesn't appear to have paid too much attention in them.

I don't doubt you personal experience but this goes beyond mere opinion of how things should be. Either it is indeed possible for a Quebecois to not learn English properly until 18+ and still end up very fluent in the language with a lighter accent, or Bergeron is lying or at least misremembering about his past. Those are the only two options. So which is it?

One simply has to see the Raycroft/Bergie rookie year Zamboni commercial to realize his English was very limited.

 

[Spooner st]

Doesn't correspond with what I heard but we'll agree to disagree.

As someone who has lived his entire life in Quebec, if you're twenty years old before you start to learn English there is no way your losing that accent.

Almost every Bruins fan knows that Bergeron could only speak a fews words in English when he joined the Bruins. He also said it himself many times. Many of them regularly commented on how his English was improving with every passing season. We could hear the difference in his interviews.

The accent has more to do if your second language becomes your most spoken language or not. Of course age is also a big factor. Bergy had the thickest of accents, now you couldn't tell if you didn't know.

 

[BRUINS since 1995]

Do you know what his full name is? In Quebec, since the early eighties, children born after that time took the family names of both their parents. His real name is Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. In Quebec, because of politics, anything pertaining to an anglophone slant is quickly brushed under he carpet. Bergeron is his mothers maiden name , Cleary is his fathers name. In Quebec, one quickly learns that if you want to advance, it's best to lose all ties to any anglophone slant, therefore Cleary got brushed under the carpet. Cleary is a Gaelic name. He was raised in a bi-lingual household and capable of speaking both languages (French and English) fluently. He was better at speaking French than he was at English simply because when you are brought up in L'Ancienne-Lorette,Quebec, 97% of the community is Francophone. Take it from me, if Patrice can speak English without any accent like he does, it because he was exposed to English (from his father) very early on in life .Otherwise he would sound like many other Quebec born hockey players like Serge Savard, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Patrick Roy and so on, all capable of speaking English but not without their french accent. Bergy speaks without a french accent because he was fully capable of speaking English early on in life.

Please provide where you got this story....it is incorrect.

 

[BRUINS since 1995]

Doesn't correspond with what I heard but we'll agree to disagree.

As someone who has lived his entire life in Quebec, if you're twenty years old before you start to learn English there is no way your losing that accent.

Again i disagree....

 

[jgatie]

Please provide where you got this story....it is incorrect.

Well the Cleary part is true. It's his real name, and he's on the Cup as Patrice Bergeron-Cleary. He only took hhis mother's name because he felt it gave him an advantage in making the Q.

But yeah, the rest is nonsense. His English was poor when he got here. One of the reasons he lived with the Lapointes was the language barrier he faced.

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

BTW, I couldn't respond to your bit with Gordon Lightfoot about the Pistols.

Huge fan. To me, Never Mind the Bollocks is the greatest rock and roll (yes) I've ever heard. Chris Thomas, who also produced the Pretenders first album, really caught their sound. Comprised mostly of singles and add=on's, it's fantastic.

BTW again, Steve Jones was a *great* elemental lead guitar player, Lydon was Lydon (effing hilarious and a jerk, but my kind of jerk), Matlock a fine pop songwriter, and Cook a good drummer.

PS I didn't understand PIL's first album at the time, but appreciated that it was weird, and different. If you were growing up in the late 70s AOR era, that was enough.

Shook Lydon's hand at a Paradise show in '85. He was wearing pajamas.

Awesome!

 

[Gordon Lightfoot]

The Lydon/PiL /Pistols stuff on this page made my night. Great stuff!

 

[GordonHowe]

Saw PiL at the Orpheum back in the late 80's. They played behind a huge screen hung in front of the stage, all you saw was silhouettes. Lydon said it was because "You don't deserve to see me." Still an awesome show. Got a PiL T-Shirt that just said "T-Shirt" (like the "Album" album). Wish I still had it.

That was a really good record, too. I saw him in 85 @ the Paradise.

 

[GordonHowe]

Awesome!

It is!

 

[GordonHowe]

The Lydon/PiL /Pistols stuff on this page made my night. Great stuff!

Hoping to provide a link to the full doc, unsuccessful. But check The Filth and the Fury. Julien Temple directed.

 

[JOKER 192]

Please provide where you got this story....it is incorrect.

Told to me by a Quebec city businessman who claimed to know his dad.