In todays day and age it is rare to see any professional athlete stay with one club for the entirety of their career, and if your a Bruins fan you are lucky enough to see one of the best ever do just that. Patrice Bergeron has meant a lot to me and my generation of Bruins fans (25 yrs old and younger) and in every way possible he has always been there for this fan base. Is he the one professional athlete in major league sports that you can confidently say in the last 16 years has never, and I mean NEVER let his fans down on the ice or with his actions off the ice either? None the less he was there, always there.
October 8th, 2003, I was nine years old, I remember settling in excited as ever to watch the Bruins season opener, this was the first season I would thoroughly follow the teams every move and listen to all their games on my AM radio. I was as happy as could be, a nine year old kid in his element, and as I turned on the TV, Bergeron was there.
April 10th, 2004, with the Bruins in the midst of a playoff series with their hated rival Montreal Canadiens, at 5am I run out to get the morning paper to check the score of game two that had been played the night before. At only 18 years old, after having scored the game winner the night before, staring back at me from the front page of the news, Bergeron was there.
“As of right now the only life I have known has been one as a Bruins fan with Patrice Bergeron front and center”
November 30th, 2005, my ten year old world came crashing down, my favorite player Joe Thornton was shipped out of town! Im not going to lie I may have shed a tear over that trade, I was devastated, however when I thought all was wrong in Bruins land, Bergeron was there.
When I had a bad day in school and needed the bruins game to pick me up, Bergeron was there.
When I was in the middle of growing up, learning the game of hockey partially through watching it on tv, needing someone to show me how to play the right way, Bergeron was there.
When I needed a positive public role model, Bergeron was there.
Someone to teach me to never quit, to never give up, comeback into the game after having his career almost ended, Bergeron was there.
Someone to be a class act, be the upmost professional, to show me how to act on and off the ice in your best of times and your worst, Bergeron was there.
June 15th, 2011, Game seven of the Stanley Cup Finals, with two goals in the game, Bergeron was there.
May 13th, 2013, Game 7 with the Bruins down by three to the Toronto Maple Leafs with ten minutes left in the game, Bergeron was there.
There have been 1,166 games since Bergeron made his career debut back on October 8th, 2003, and for 1,000 of those, Bergeron was there. As of right now the only life I have known has been one as a Bruins fan with Patrice Bergeron front and center, I can not even imagine what it will be like one day to sit down for a Bruins game, turn on the TV, and not be able to say… Bergeron is there.
The Morning Skate 