- Patrice Bergeron was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night in Toronto
- His speech opened with a story about stacking pucks in the back of the net as a first-year player
- Read below for who he thanked, from Joe Thornton to Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand
Patrice Bergeron started his Hall of Fame speech with a story about a little kid who didn’t want to get off the ice.
The longtime Bruins center was inducted Monday night in Toronto alongside Cindy Curley, Carey Price, Pekka Rinne, Keith Tkachuk and Brian Burke. Bergeron went back to his earliest days in organized hockey.
He talked about how hard it was to get going as a first-year player.
“During my first year of organized hockey, I would sit in the back of the net, stacking pucks and refusing to get up,” Bergeron said. “The only time I moved was to go see my parents by the boards and complain about how bad my skates were hurting my feet. But even then, after getting off the ice, I’d tell them how much I loved it.”
Watch the full speech from the Bruins:
Bergeron then walked through the road to Boston. The Bruins took him in the second round of the 2003 draft, and he made the team a few months later as an 18-year-old still learning English.
He said he sometimes had to pinch himself in that first camp. He was getting dressed between Joe Thornton and Martin Lapointe, and he was playing against Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, two of his idols.
Bergeron thanked Kent Hughes, who was his agent and is now the general manager of the Canadiens. He also called wearing the maple leaf one of his greatest honors, and he mentioned Olympic gold in Vancouver and Sochi alongside Price, who went into the Hall on the same night.
He gave Boston its own moment, too. “The Boston Bruins are more than a hockey team; they are part of Boston’s identity,” Bergeron said.
He thanked the teammates from the 2011 Stanley Cup team and singled out Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand. A big group of former teammates made the trip to Toronto for him:
Bergeron saved his closing words for the next generation. “Thank you for inspiring a young boy from Quebec City to believe that anything is possible,” he said. “I hope my journey inspires future generations to dream big, believe in themselves, and never stop chasing those dreams.”
Earlier in the day, Bergeron received his Hall of Fame blazer from Ray Bourque. Tkachuk got the night rolling with a Toronto joke in his opening line.
