Together with his grace and expertise, Patrice Bergeron was a modern-day John Havlicek

Bruins

It was a privilege to have Bergeron in Boston’s nook all these years, and I hope we will once more. Couldn’t you see him working the Bruins sometime?

By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe

July 28, 2023 | 2:05 PM

Patrice Bergeron mastered all of it, even the sleek goodbye.

He spent 19 seasons with the Bruins as the best all-around participant, a faceoff-winning, goal-scoring, genuine first-line heart who was so adept for therefore lengthy defensively that the Selke Trophy must be renamed “The Bergy.”

And by all accounts, he’s a greater teammate and particular person than he’s a participant. That’s a rare feat of character on condition that his on-ice achievements shall be celebrated with a Hockey Corridor of Fame induction.

By way of how he carried himself as a Boston famous person athlete, it appears to me that Bergeron is actually the modern-day John Havlicek, albeit not fairly as completed individually or in issues of group achievement. Barely-less-than-Hondo standing nonetheless lands Bergeron comfortably within the gallery of Boston sports activities gods.

It was a privilege to have Bergeron in Boston’s nook all these years, and I hope we will once more. Couldn’t you see him working the Bruins sometime?

As is the case with most athletes, he does depart with some what-ifs, some alternatives misplaced alongside the way in which that may by no means be recovered. Bergeron’s title was etched on the Stanley Cup 12 years in the past, his two-goal efficiency important within the championship-clinching Recreation 7 victory in Vancouver.

However in 2013, simply because the Bruins had been poised to power a Recreation 7 with the Blackhawks, they had been all of a sudden, crushingly defeated in Recreation 6. The Recreation 7 loss to the Blues within the Cup Finals six years later leaves much more of an ache, as a result of the Bruins had been the higher group and simply couldn’t show that when it mattered most.

This previous season stung differently, and it’s recent sufficient that no recap is important or welcome. The Bruins had been constructed to win their second Cup of this technology. They might not get previous the admirable menace Matthew Tkachuk and the Florida Panthers within the first spherical, and reality be instructed, Bergeron was a shell of himself after struggling a herniated disk within the ultimate regular-season recreation in Montreal. A confluence of dangerous selections, dangerous performances, and dangerous luck led to a surprisingly abrupt finish to essentially the most promising of seasons.

Within the lifelike daydream, the ultimate scene on the Backyard ice this season would have been Bergeron and mates hoisting the Cup. As an alternative, what lingers is the picture of Bergeron pausing for just a few moments to salute Boston followers, with the reciprocation returned his method at full quantity.

We weren’t positive then it was goodbye. However the gratitude needed to be proven, simply in case. It might have been a failing of Boston followers had a participant and particular person of Bergeron’s magnitude been allowed to go with out one final full-blast, heartfelt thanks. We get farewells proper round right here, particularly once we don’t wish to say farewell in any respect.

The disappointing ending to the Bruins season denied Bergeron the right ending of going out as a champion. And whereas he’s by no means been in regards to the particular person, it’s a tribute to him that he was so darned good in his ultimate season, at 37 years outdated (he turned 38 this week).

Bergeron was nonetheless, undeniably, a first-line heart, a defensive power, and the fulcrum of every thing coach Jim Montgomery needed and wanted the Bruins to do. It ranks close to the highest on the pretty quick checklist of the perfect ultimate seasons by a Boston athlete that I’ve witnessed.

One of many first NBA video games I keep in mind was Havlicek’s final. I’ve a vivid recollection of driving round with my dad in our household’s spectacular brown Pontiac and listening to Johnny Most name the motion as Hondo scored 29 factors (on 33 pictures!) for the 1978 Celtics. The group was wretched, and so it can’t be thought-about a “finest” ultimate season simply due to the group’s circumstances, however Havlicek, who averaged 16.1 factors that season, nonetheless had sufficient to offer.

He later would lament that he may need caught round a bit of longer had he identified that Larry Hen could be, effectively, Larry Hen. Think about Havlicek ending his profession as he started it, because the sixth man on a group guided by one of many 10 best gamers ever.

The perfect ultimate season? If we’re counting Boston legends who wrapped it up elsewhere, the reply should be Raymond Bourque, who skated off into the sundown with a Stanley Cup in Colorado. However we’re not counting these whose goodbye got here elsewhere, even when Bourque did convey the Cup to Metropolis Corridor within the long-ago days when Boston sports activities followers had little to have a good time of their very own.

So the apparent reply should be David Ortiz, who at age 40 in 2016 led the majors in doubles (48), slugging proportion (.620), and OPS (1.021) whereas hitting 38 house runs and driving in an American League-leading 127 runs. The OPS was the fourth-best of his Corridor of Fame profession, and his 5.2 WAR stays the perfect by a participant in his ultimate season since 1990.

Ortiz was as near irreplaceable as a participant could be. I’d say the Bruins will discover out the identical factor about Patrice Bergeron subsequent season, however they already know. All of us do.