Bruin center Patrice Bergeron spoke today for the first time since it was made evident that he would be hospitalized for the better part of a week due to a hole in his lung, fractured ribs, torn cartilage, and a separated shoulder.
Patrice Bergeron is a tank.
"In Game 4, my cartilage tore in the corner against [Michael] Frolik, so that's when it started and it obviously escalated because I kept playing and didn't have time to heal it. In Game 5, it was either the first or second shift, I got hit again right on the ribs and that's when I'm sure it cracked and it got worse. I tried to go back in the second and after the second period, the doctors, because the pain escalated, they were worried about the spleen, so we had to go to the hospital [in Chicago] and get it checked and everything was fine." ~ Patrice Bergeron
- As he said, late in game 4 of the recent Cup Finals, Bergeron tore a large amount of cartilage in his chest while battling for the puck against Michael Frolik. 1 game later, mere minutes into that crushing game 5 in which Chicago would grasp that strangle hold on the Cup, a hit to the ribs of the star Bergeron broke his ribs and flushed him into a world of pain. We all remember that game, we all remember listening and gritting our teeth as Peire McGuire illustrated the pressing details surrounding Bergeron's departure from that crucial Game 5. Nevertheless in the days between game 5 and 6 details came out yet none of them were correct. TSN and RDS both reported that Bergeron was hospitalized due to a spleen problem despite the Bruins knowing by then that their fears of a broken spleen were for not as by then they knew the full extent of at least the broken rib and torn cartilage.
"In my mind, for sure, I wanted to play, I was hoping for the pain to go down but that wasn't the case. After Game 5, I was in a lot of pain. The next day I was just trying to find a way [to] manage the pain, I guess, but it was definitely there. On the day of Game 6, we met with the doctors and they were telling me the only way I could play was to have a nerve block, otherwise the pain would be too high, so I did that in order to play." ~ Patrice Bergeron
- By the end of Game 6, even in the midst of our sadness after seeing a chance at forcing a Game Seven fall through the Bruins fingers, we basically knew the details of what Bergeron had said in the paragraph above. After seeing no decrease in the pain he was suffering through, Bergeron elected to undergo an intense medical procedure in which a nerve in Bergeron's body was blocked out by a synthetic chemical causing Bergeron to basically become immune to any pain.
"Honestly, it's hard to know; it’s not before the first period [of Game 6] for sure because we took some X-rays after the nerve block to make sure the lungs were fine. I got some more [nerve block] during the game because the pain was coming back. It couldn't have been from getting the nerve block or from the rib being cracked and getting checked. So, I'm guessing during the game because I felt my energy level went down during the game after the second period." ~ Patrice Bergeron
- If you sensed a hint of something REALLY bad in there, you were correct. After being administered an additional nerve block treatment during the second intermission, the lack of any sensitivity pain wise would eventually administer the final blow in Bergeron's saga of pain and injuries. He felt his chest closing in on him Bergeron said and that is never good.
"I felt like my chest was closing in on me, so the doctors didn't want to take any chances, luckily enough, they made the right decision because I went there right away and they found my lung had collapsed,"~ Patrice Bergeron
- With severe pain flooding through his chest, Bergeron forgot about the mental pain of allowing 2 goals in 17 seconds to lose the Cup, and instead stumbled back to the locker room where after the X-Rays administered to him were deemed inconclusive, Bergeron was raced to Mass General Hospital for immediate treatment.
- According to ESPN writer Joe McDonald, an intensive care specialist was called in to open a hole in Bergeron's chest before proceeding to insert a small tube into his lung and manually inflating it like a balloon. After 3 days of recovery, Bergeron was released from the hospital with no need for surgery of any sort.
"I wasn't the only one going through pain, It means a lot, but at the same time I know all the guys would've done the same thing. At this point, at this stage that you are you do everything to win. You put everything on the line to help your team and it's basically what I did. I'm 100 percent confident everyone else would have done the same thing. There are a lot of real tough guys on our team and I don't feel like I should take all the praise because I'm not the only one who would have done that."~ Patrice Bergeron
- After one of the greatest playoff runs in in Bruins history, stories like this are not something new to the Bruins. I mean Gregory Campbell basically said the exact same thing that Bergeron did in that last paragraph after he played nearly 45 seconds of game 3 on a broken leg. Sidenberg hurt his knee in the Toronto series yet look at what he did, playing his way to the cup on a marginal ACL strain. Ference was hurt too in that Toronto series yet just a few games before Bergeron's saga began, Nathan Horton played through a separated shoulder prompting a internet meme with a picture of Nathen Hornton captioned with the words "it's not baseball".
Patrice Bergeron had one of the greatest playoff runs of any Bruins: the 2 goals in game seven of the Toronto series, the assist on the Rangers series game one Marchand winner, the 2OT winner in game 3 of the conference finals, a few points in game 4 of the Cup and all this that has happened in the last few games of the year.
In my mind, Patrice Bergeron is the ideal Bruin. He doesn't hit much, he doesn't fight yet even with all that, he is the guy. The Bruins must lock him down to a big name contract this off season and that is a fact.
*Bergeron will be a free agent this summer but is expected to be handed a contract close to 8 years and upwards of 30 million dollars
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