Bergeron put everything on the line en route to Hall of Fame, Marchand says

Few players, especially in the modern era, have spent more time together than Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, who were teammates for 14 seasons and linemates for nearly all of that time; they rank second to Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings in time on ice together since 2009-10 with 12,808:46. The pair helped the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final three times and the Stanley Cup in 2011, and Marchand succeeded Bergeron as captain of the Bruins. Here, Marchand, now with the Florida Panthers, shares his thoughts on Bergeron, who will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, in a special testimonial for NHL.com:

You would always hear about what guys go through in playoff time, but then there was Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final in 2013. I remember sitting beside Patrice Bergeron on the bench, "Bergy's" all banged up, broken ribs, torn rib cartilage and a punctured lung, had to get shot up before the game. He can barely breathe and every time we came off after a shift, I couldn't even watch the game because I was so focused on this guy, he looked like he was going to keel over he was in so much pain. 

It's just incredible when you understand what he was constantly putting himself through -- that was just one time, he's done it 1,000 times over his career -- where he's sacrificing his body for the group and he's still one of the best players on the ice. In that game, he was literally willing to lay everything on the line -- even his life potentially, having to spend multiple days in the hospital after we lost 3-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks.

For a guy like Bergy, it's so much more than a game or a championship. He wasn't doing that for himself. Yes, he wanted to be part of it, but I honestly think he was not going to let the team down that day, he didn't care what he had to go through. And the respect that you get from the entire group, from the entire organization, from the entire city of Boston and across the hockey world, it's incredible.

He was always there in the biggest moments, like in 2019 in St. Louis before Game 6 of the Final when we were down 3-2. Bergy didn't tell anyone he was doing it, but just before we took the ice, he broke out the most insane speech. Everyone got goosebumps listening to him talking about how much he believes in the group and how we were going to bring it back to Boston for Game 7. Ultimately, we didn't win the series but that was one of the best moments of leadership anyone on that team has ever seen. He calmed the whole group down and had us prepared and allowed us to just believe. 

Then, there was 2011. He was still very young, but to me and to all the guys, he was so mature for his age and so focused and, at 25, he had been through so much already, losing almost a year of hockey to a traumatic concussion. That year he had gone to such a different level, on the ice, but off as well. I know he credits Mark Recchi a lot for that because "Rex" really tried to pull him out of his shell and have him become more vocal and you could see what an incredible leader he was. 

Part of that was how he was communicating with each guy in the dressing room. He's the best I've ever seen at being able to walk into a room and automatically know how each guy is feeling. He can look around and be like, this guy, you can tell he's a little anxious, he's a little nervous, and he has the ability and the confidence to approach them and try to help them feel better, make them feel more comfortable or help pull them out of a funk or talk them through situations or just be a support. It was all year long, but especially when playoff time came. There was a determination within him that there was nothing that was getting in the way of his lifting that Cup. That's what big players do. They show up and shine in big moments.

A huge part of it is because he's so selfless and he cares -- he truly cares -- about all of the guys around him, about his teammates and building connections and building chemistry. It's what most people don't realize: It never turned off for him. He was never going to let somebody go through something alone, and so the teams that he captained were some of the closest and most united that you'll ever see.

But it's not just that. You have this incredible, humble, respectful leader and he's one of the best players ever. 

We played together in my first game and would be near-permanently attached from the 2010-11 season through Bergy's retirement after 2022-23, 13 seasons, almost always on the same line. I'd love to say I instantly knew what we'd become, but I just knew that we complemented each other well. He was never trying to be super fancy, I was never trying to be super fancy, we were both just hard-working players that thrived in the same area of the rink. Below the top of the circles we would compete, get pucks back, make plays around the net, and get pucks to each other in areas where we could score, but we weren't that good at carrying the puck through the neutral zone and beating guys one-on-one. That's not our game. 

Claude Julien, our coach at the time, was adamant early on. He's like, "Listen, Bergy is the type of player that you want to be like, try to be like him." And we just connected. Part of it is when you play with superstars when you're a young guy it can be nerve-racking and he made it so comfortable. He wasn't arrogant and if you made a bad play, he didn't roll his eyes, he was like, "We all make mistakes, it's not a big deal," which was genuine and comforting. Still, he held his line to a standard and, while he wasn't hard on you about it, he had a polite way of telling you that you needed to be better, and eventually you learned.

It grew from there. The more we played together, the more we talked, we became good friends off the ice, so that chemistry carried over. We'd work on it all the time. There was also a side to my game, at the time, that I needed to try to turn away from and just focus on being a good player, and he was very good about helping me with that because he knew it wasn't easy for me.

But what was funny was that it wasn't easy for guys to play with us because our chemistry was so good that we would only really have to pass to each other. David Pastrnak got very frustrated when he started playing with us because he's an elite player and we were always looking for one another and we weren't looking for "Pasta" as much. As soon as one of us got the puck, that's where our vision went. I knew where Bergy was going to be and he was always there. I wasn't quite as good at being right there for him, but most of the time he knew where I would be, so he'd put it there. 

Eventually we figured it out with Pasta, though, and had a great line.

We took a lot of pride in how great our chemistry was. We loved that we killed together, were on the PP together, we were a combo everywhere. And maybe the penalty kill is the best example of who he was as a player. I've never seen an elite player on any team be so comfortable and so content with whatever happens, whatever is asked of them. With a lot of superstars, it has to be their way. Bergy was like, I am going to do whatever I have to do to help the team win. I don't need to be playing the most minutes, I don't need to be on the first power play, I don't need to be first penalty kill, but he was going to go out and work as hard as he possibly could every time. I think it was Jim Montgomery that said to me once, he just doesn't do anything wrong. It's true. Everything he does is the right thing. He's always doing what is the best play in the moment for the team, and he never cheated, not for a breakaway, not for anything else, and that's exactly who he is. 

We built something special. I didn't want to let him down, and I think that was part of why I was always trying to push because Bergy's the best in the world at what he does and I felt like I had to try and keep up. We both really wanted to carry the weight for the organization and the team. 

He did that in so many ways, especially with Patrice's Pals, when he would invite kids from local hospitals and organizations to TD Garden. A lot of guys after games get in all kinds of different moods, whether the team plays bad, he plays bad -- which I would say he never played bad -- but he was always so excited to go and meet the fans. He knew what that meant to them and the impact that it had. Away from the rink, people would approach him and be like, "Hey, I don't think you realize what that did for them through the recovery, it's still the only thing they talk about." He knew there were so many things bigger than the game where he could touch lives. 

It just continues to go back to what a great person he is and the impact that he makes and just how much he cares about people. 

The game is one thing. His play speaks for itself: He's become the ultimate Selke winner -- they should rename the Selke after him -- and he's one of the best ever to put the Bruins jersey on, one of the best to put a jersey on in the National Hockey League. 

He embodies everything that you should want your kids to grow up to be as a person -- success and athleticism aside -- but you add that on top of it, it's a special combination.