Marchand, Bergeron bring 'lifelong bond' into playoffs for Bruins

BOSTON -- When the house across the street from Patrice Bergeron came up for sale, Brad Marchand's eyes lit up. He was all in, prepared to move out of his place in the North End and take up more suburban living. Marchand's wife, Katrina, wasn't exactly on the same page.

"The house across the street from him, I wanted to buy," Marchand said.
Seriously?
"I swear to God," he said.
Marchand and Bergeron were sitting next to each other on a recent Friday in the video room at the Boston Bruins practice facility. They had walked in like the odd couple they are, Bergeron clad head-to-toe in black Bruins-issue gear and Marchand in light-colored jeans, a white T-shirt and a jean jacket, ready to discuss the relationship they have built on and off the ice over 14 seasons as teammates, almost all of them as linemates.
But this?
"I was trying to get him to buy it," Bergeron said.
"It literally looked at his front door," Marchand said, jumping in.
Marchand explained that his wife wanted to stay in Boston -- they ended up in the Charlestown neighborhood -- but the two forwards started to laugh.
"Maybe that's why," Bergeron said, chuckling.
"She was like, you'll leave me," Marchand joined in. "He's got a pool we can use!"
Marchand looked at Bergeron.
"Can I just move into your basement?" he asked, mostly in jest. "I'll be your full-time babysitter."
The interplay between Bergeron and Marchand has been honed over more than a decade together, a decade forged in the heat of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2011, when the two won the Cup; over two more trips to the Cup Final in 2013 and 2019, both losses; over an appearance as linemates in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey; over airplane rides and dinners on road trips; over vacations taken and unions of their families and so many, many sanity-seeking walks around the bubble in the 2020 postseason, for hours a day.
They have spent 2022-23 teaming up on a remarkable season, with the Bruins (65-12-5) capturing the Presidents' Trophy for having the best record in the NHL and setting the League record for regular-season wins. They will enter the playoffs as the heavy favorite, with Game 1 against the Florida Panthers set for Monday at TD Garden, as they set out to try to win the Cup, together, again.
Since Marchand and Bergeron first met as not-much-more-than-teenagers, they have come to mean as much to Boston, and as much to Boston hockey as nearly anyone else in a Bruins uniform, achieving milestones side by side, growing up, starting families.
Becoming friends.
Marchand still remembers the first time he saw Bergeron, when Marchand was a 17-year-old NHL hopeful playing with Moncton of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Bruins played a preseason game against the Montreal Canadiens in Moncton that season, and there, on the ice, was a 20-year-old Patrice Bergeron.
Marchand marveled.
"I remember I was watching the practice, a bunch of guys that I played against the year before that," Marchand said. "You're like, this guy could still be playing here. He's only 20. That's crazy."
Bergeron was in his second full season as a member of the Bruins, after being selected in the second round (No. 45) of the 2003 NHL Draft. The following offseason, Marchand would be selected by the Bruins too, in the third round (No. 71) of the 2006 NHL Draft.
The picks would change the course of Bruins history. And the lives of both players.
They would go up against each other in drills at that first camp, the wannabe against a guy already spoken about with the heated whispers of awe.
"We were doing a 1-on-1 drill and I remember I was trying to battle with him," Marchand said. "It's one thing when you battle in the corner with guys like your age or your caliber, but then to play and compete with a guy that was at a whole different level. It's like, holy … This is what it takes to be an NHL player? I don't know if I've got this."
For Bergeron, he looked at the kid and noted his competitiveness, the sheer want emanating off him. He noted the details, the aggressiveness, the battling, the promise.

"You can tell the difference between a good player and one that wants to make an impact and actually do whatever it takes to make it," Bergeron said. "I could see he had that in him, where he was not going to leave any stone unturned. This is an opportunity that I'm going to run with."
Since those days, Bergeron has gone on to 19 seasons in the NHL, scoring 1,040 points (427 goals, 613 assists) in 1,294 games. He ascended to the captaincy after defenseman Zdeno Chara left, taking over for the 2020-21 season. He has won the Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward a record five times and is the favorite to win it again this season. He will one day be enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Marchand should top 1,000 games next season. He's played 947 games, scoring 862 points (372 goals, 490 assists), starting with his debut on Oct. 21, 2009, playing on a line with Bergeron and Michael Ryder. All of those games, like all of Bergeron's, have come in the spoked B.
They have played 881 games together in the NHL, the 17th most among forward duos in League history, though that does not track whether those pairs played on the same line and have spent 12,840 minutues on the ice together.
But though the two saw each other's strengths on the ice -- and would be joined together near permanently during the 2010-11 season when Marchand graduated from the fourth line -- their off-ice compatibility wasn't immediate. Though less than three years separate them, Bergeron was, somehow, already an adult, already a veteran, while Marchand was just making his way. He was living in a building with Tyler Seguin and Adam McQuaid, all rookies, and hanging out with his mates on the fourth line, Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton.
"I was young and coming in and nervous about the older guys," Marchand said. "'Bergy' was obviously very established, had a more mature life going on, more of a family man. And I was into the party scene and all that stuff."
But as the minutes on the ice together grew, so did their hours together off it. They started going for dinners on the road, and that time spent talking and communicating on the bench and the ice and the road added up little by little, reinforcing the bond that was becoming apparent to anyone watching them play.
"You start connecting a little bit and then off the ice you start bonding a little bit more," Bergeron said. "That's when the friendship started. … It started on the ice and then kind of translated into off ice."
They are easy together, now. They have a relaxed affect, a way of jumping in and layering their thoughts on top of each other, adding a thought here, a point there.
There are moments that they both point to that solidified the relationships, touchstones. There was the trip to Los Angeles with Bergeron's brother back in 2015, when Bergeron went to shoot a couple of commercials when he was on the cover of NHL 15, the EA Sports video game. There is the charity tournament Bergeron runs in Quebec that Marchand has attended with his family. There was the week before the World Cup of Hockey 2016, when Bergeron stayed at Marchand's house in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and practiced with him and Sidney Crosby, the three of them later forming a line on the Canada team that won the gold medal. There was the World Cup of Hockey itself, where both had their parents meet and spent time together, both wives, a brother.

"I felt like after that it wasn't just me and him," Bergeron said. "It was everyone around our circle that knew each other and would hang out when they were down in Boston."
When the team is on the road, Bergeron and Marchand feel like they're constantly together. At home, it's more difficult with a total of six kids going in six directions -- each has three, with Bergeron expecting a fourth in June. There have been play dates, and they'd wish for more, if only they were easier to schedule. Their daughters, born a month apart, get along particularly well.
But when the team is away from Boston, it's fairly constant.
"All the time," Marchand said.
"Even if it's an off day, we'll just hang out, go for walks and whatnot," Bergeron said. "No, we hang out a lot together."
Bergeron was asked if Marchand has ever frustrated him. Marchand has had a checkered NHL career, suspended eight times and fined five, forfeiting more than $1.4 million of salary over his career, most recently getting a six-game suspension last season.
He even has twice licked opponents, Leo Komarov of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ryan Callahan of the Tampa Bay Lightning, during the 2018 playoffs.
"No," Bergeron said.
"Couple times," Marchand contradicted, laughing.
"He didn't," Bergeron said. "As I said, from Day One at [development] camp, he was so competitive. You could tell he wanted it. There was no laziness about him. He was always putting in the work. I'm trying to do the same because he's such a hard worker off the ice with the way that he works out, the way that he eats. All that stuff that he does is also something for me -- I'm trying to keep up. We're both pushing each other. I shouldn't say it's just me. I feel like I'm trying to catch up to him most of the time.
"So no, I can't say that he's ever frustrated me. I feel like we complement each other. Like by the way that we are. He brings a lot of energy every day at the rink and on the bench. But also, he also has a side where he does have a temper …"
Marchand snort-giggled.
"I'm a little bit more even keel," Bergeron said. "But he helps me with that. I think in games he's trying to bring us in the fight. That's why we have such a strong bond. I feel like we complement each other. We always say that opposites attract. It seems like it's kind of the case for us."
It's something that even they don't necessarily think about or put together, how lucky they have been, how rare this partnership is. It was last year that a couple of their teammates, Erik Haula (now of the New Jersey Devils) and Taylor Hall, pointed out that this -- this friendship, this partnership, this decade of success literally alongside each other -- simply doesn't happen in the NHL.
"To be honest, I didn't even think about it," Bergeron said. "It's just how it is for us."
And, Marchand pointed out, neither of them has had a lengthy injury since they were paired -- Bergeron did miss all but 10 games in 2007-08 because of concussions, but that predated Marchand's arrival -- so neither has been forced to accommodate another player by his side.
At this, Marchand stood and looked for wood to knock on. He found only a wall and tried that.
"We really haven't had to ever get used to playing with anyone different," Marchand said. "Even [David Pastrnak], when he first came onto our line, he was having a really tough time because we had played together for so long, and the bond that we built, we would always just look to play with each other.
"Because we always know where each other is and a lot of the plays and things we did would run -- he's a righty center, I'm a lefty -- so a lot of plays come to the left and when we get in zone, I was always coming around the strong side to try to find him in the slot, stuff like that. And 'Pasta' would get really frustrated."
The connection was simply too good. They were looking for each other only, their telepathy and knowledge of the other's game and tendencies strong enough at that point to make being the third member of their line intimidating, even for someone as talented as Pastrnak.
Eventually, of course, they figured it out.
"So, you're right, I think it's something that I think we have maybe taken for granted a bit, how fortunate we've been," Marchand said. "But it's all we've ever known."
Which was why last season was so hard. Bergeron's contract was up at the end of 2021-22 and he had decided early on that he would wait until the end of the season to determine his future. It wasn't until Aug. 8 that Bergeron signed a new, one-year deal worth $2.5 million and an additional $2.5 million in performance bonuses. Both have treated this season as if it could be Bergeron's last.
Bergeron confirmed that no decisions have been made for 2023-24. Once again, he is trying to enjoy and savor every day he has in the NHL, something that has been especially easy during the historic run the Bruins have been on this season.
"I'm just going to have to retire when he retires, make it easy," Marchand said.
"The thing we'll find out is I've been dragging him back this whole time," Bergeron said.
"I'm going to have like three points a year after that," Marchand countered.
They both laughed.
Bergeron, though, is focused on the moment, on the moments. He said that even if the team wins the Stanley Cup, he doesn't yet know if he would ride off into the sunset, as former linemate Mark Recchi did after the Bruins won in 2011.
"It's a lot of work in front of us," he said. "I don't even want to think about that."
When Bergeron does retire, he will leave the leadership of the team to a group that has learned at the feet of him and Chara. That includes Marchand, who has two seasons remaining on the eight-year, $49 million contract ($6.125 million average annual value) he signed Sept. 26, 2016. Marchand, along with defenseman Charlie McAvoy, will be candidates to succeed him as captain.
And playing with Bergeron, playing alongside Bergeron, has been a master class in learning exactly how to do that.
"The last few years, especially 'Z's' last couple years and since Bergy's been captain, that's one thing that I really wanted to be part of was that leadership group," Marchand said. "And watching the way that he manages every day, how much emphasis he puts on being a good leader -- things that most people would never even look at or realize. You don't realize how much goes into being a captain.
"There's a captain on every team, but there's only a few that are at that elite level that will go down in history of sports, and Bergy is one of them. The amount of effort and time that he takes into making sure that every single guy, every day is in the right headspace, feeling good about themselves, and he's always trying to find ways to bring the group closer together and allow us to bond and build chemistry and he's always trying to find a way to improve the team, make sure nothing is being missed for the group to allow us to have success."
There have been situations that Bergeron has come to Marchand about, things he didn't see, things he thought were good. He is always thinking, pondering, improving. Marchand said that he is aware that he will never be Bergeron, that he will never get to that level, but he is constantly studying.
"That's the type of leadership that it doesn't happen overnight," Marchand said. "It's a gift."
Marchand lists off what he sees Bergeron do: the work with mental skills coaches and sports psychologists, the showing up three hours before a game to warm up, the going to bed "earlier than my kids," as he quips, the commitment, commitment, commitment.
(For the record, Bergeron will later clarify that he goes to bed at 10 p.m. He can't confirm whether that is, indeed, earlier than any of Marchand's three kids.)
"There's an accountability to play with a guy like that,"
Marchand said. "It's like, you don't want to be the one to let him down. He holds himself and his line to a high standard."
There will come a day when neither player is in the NHL, when the Bergeron and Marchand show has ended and they have ceded the Bruins to the next generation. Neither is sure yet whether he will remain in Boston, make it his home permanently.
But, much as neither of them wants to admit it, it will come to an end.
"I hope not," Marchand said.
"I don't think the friendship's going to come to an end," Bergeron said. "I feel like we're really, really close friends. It's going to change because we're not going to hang out, but we're still going to find ways to see each other."
Marchand added, "When that time comes, Bergy's going to be my sounding board for everything. He's still going to be the best leader that I am the closest with. It's going to be a big change for me. He's still going to be the captain behind the scenes.
"We don't really talk about it. … Let him make whatever decision and I'm never going to put pressure on him. Whenever that day comes, whether it's next year or two or three years down the road, it'll be a change. For both of us. Hockey-wise, a huge change for me. But life-wise, a huge change for both of us. If he ends up staying local, then it'll be much easier."
Bergeron interjected.
"Then you might move to the suburbs?" he asked.
"Then I'll definitely move and he'll be picking all my kids up from school for me," Marchand said.
"Hopefully that house across the street will be for sale," Bergeron said.
They laughed.
"The hockey part will end, obviously, for both of us," Marchand said. "But I think we've built a lifelong bond."