Charlie McAvoy had done it hundreds of times.
When the Boston Bruins won, the players hugged their captain before exiting the ice.
Always.
It started with Zdeno Chara. When the hulking defenceman moved on, he passed the torch and the ‘C’ to Patrice Bergeron.
The tradition continued.
When the record-setting, Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins suffered a stunning Game 7 loss to the Florida Panthers in last spring’s playoffs, the teary-eyed, 37-year-old Bergeron threw a curve and embraced each of his teammates on the ice in the moments following that crushing defeat.
Only a small circle of confidants knew, but the soon-to-be-six-time Selke Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defensive forward had just suited up in the league for a final time.
McAvoy wishes now that he had hung onto that bear hug a little longer.
“It’s emotional, right?” the Bruins defenceman said at last month’s NHL/NHLPA player media tour. “Something that he did every game for as long as I was there. You lose, you get off the ice. You win, he’s always there. He stands right by the door. For six years that I played with him, he’s the guy that you hug. It was (Chara) and then him. And then (Chara) left and it was just him. You give Bergy those big hugs — bear hugs — every time you win.
“Maybe I didn’t appreciate that moment enough. It’s stung so much. So quick and so soon. But I knew what he was doing … he was hanging them up.”
Bergeron officially retired in late July, calling time on a career that will undoubtedly lead to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The product of the Quebec City suburb of L’Ancienne-Lorette finished with 427 goals and 613 assists for 1,040 points in 1,294 games over 19 seasons.
Selected with the 45th pick in the 2003 draft, Bergeron added 128 points (50 goals, 78 assists) in 170 playoff contests, including a Stanley Cup victory in 2011 to go along with two other final appearances (2013, 2019).
He also won Olympic gold with Canada in 2010 and 2014 before adding the 2016 World Cup of Hockey crown.
Apart from the half-dozen Selke wins on an individual level, the two-way centre also won the King Clancy Award for community work in 2013 and the Mark Messier Leadership Award in 2021.
“It’s incredible, in the game, what he’s done,” McAvoy said. “Change the Selke Trophy to the Bergeron (Trophy) at some point. It’s amazing.”
The accolades, to be clear, don’t stop with his now-former teammate.
“Every time we played, my back was sore from faceoffs,” Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin said. “He’s strong. He was so good at faceoffs. You knew that set the tone. Never out of position.
“And then he’s such a nice guy. He’s a class act. I don’t think I ever made him mad, but he’d be one of those guys where if you pissed him off, you’d want to apologize.”
As a younger player in the league, Montreal Canadiens sniper Cole Caufield marvelled at Bergeron’s complete game.
“It was special, it was consistent, it was 200 feet,” he said. “Cool to see how much he cared, how much his teammates care about him.
“Sad to see a guy like that go.”
Toronto Maple Leafs winger Tyler Bertuzzi joined the Bruins prior to last season’s trade deadline after playing against Bergeron with Detroit.
“An awesome guy, an awesome leader,” Bertuzzi said. “The way he conducts himself on and off the ice, you want to resemble that and work as hard as you can.
“Because you know he is.”
Sabres centre Tage Thompson had a memorable exchange with Bergeron ahead of Buffalo’s “Hockey Fights Cancer” night last season.
Thompson’s wife, Rachel, had been diagnosed a few years back, but was free of the disease. Bergeron tapped his opposite’s shin pads before the opening faceoff and offered words of encouragement.
“Perfect hockey player,” Thompson said. “Perfect guy.”
Their link in the game, however, went back much further.
Bergeron played with Thompson’s dad, Brent, for the American Hockey League’s Providence Bruins during the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
“I was really little,” Thompson recalled. “He used to come over for dinner and play street hockey.
“Every time getting to play against him (in the NHL) was always a really cool moment.”
On the ice, Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Mikail Sergachev said Bergeron’s offensive skills were overshadowed by his defensive prowess.
“Really good at finding open spots,” Sergachev said. “Very, very smart in that regard. Tough to play against him because sometimes you would lose him.
“The guy was dangerous — on both sides.”
McAvoy said even though a select few members of the Bruins’ inner circle knew Bergeron was planning to retire, when he didn’t announce right away, they started to wonder if plans had changed.
“He didn’t say anything and he didn’t file (retirement papers),” said the blueliner. “You’re like, ‘All right, I still haven’t heard anything. He just came out and skated with us and he was the best player on the ice. Like, what the hell is he skating for?’
“A couple of us were talking about it. We’re like, ‘He’s still done, right?'”
But the news would eventually drop.
“Hurt all over again,” McAvoy said. “You’re like, ‘Oh, wow, it really is true.'”
Bergeron’s legacy in Boston, he added, is cemented alongside the city’s sporting greats.
“A legend,” McAvoy said. “He’s perfect. There’s no such thing, right? Doesn’t exist. But we can let it exist, and that’s him … first-class, that’s Bergy.”
There will be more hugs — when his No. 37 is raised to the TD Garden rafters and his name is called by the Hall of Fame.
McAvoy will be sure to hold on a little longer than he did after Game 7.
“That was a good hug,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of better hugs that I remember from our time together.
“But we’ll have that one, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2023.
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Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press
