Patrice Bergeron, Ryan O’Reilly are a research in contrasts
Greg WyshynskiESPN
ST. LOUIS — The Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues have been known as mirror photographs of one another, from their roster development to their type of play. However the reflections of facilities Patrice Bergeron and Ryan O’Reilly could be greatest present in a funhouse mirror. You can also make out the broad similarities, however they’re something however an identical.
“Yeah, they’re comparable for positive,” Blues coach Craig Berube stated. “I feel it begins within the faceoff circle with each of them. They’re superb faceoff guys and play a 200-foot sport. They each work extraordinarily laborious. Bergeron, he is been right here earlier than. Ryan O’Reilly is new to it, however he is clearly been our greatest participant arguably all 12 months lengthy. So it is an important matchup, to be trustworthy with you.”
Bergeron and O’Reilly are each finalists for the Selke Trophy, given to the NHL’s prime defensive ahead. In some ways, that is the place the similarities finish.
Professionally, Bergeron is the extra lauded of the 2. Thought-about among the finest defensive centermen in NHL historical past, he has received the Selke 4 instances and been a finalist in eight straight seasons, together with this one. Whereas his defensive acumen was at all times appreciated, O’Reilly was simply invited to the Selke social gathering for the primary time as a finalist, together with Bergeron and Vegas winger Mark Stone. O’Reilly’s solely earlier award win got here in 2014 with the Woman Byng Award for gentlemanly play after a season wherein he had simply two penalty minutes in 80 video games.
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Aesthetically, Bergeron, 33, is a well-groomed Quebecois who would not look misplaced in a menswear catalog. O’Reilly, 28, is an unkempt Ontarian whose neck-consuming beard has made him one of the vital immediately recognizable Blues away from the rink.
From a status standpoint, Bergeron has a Stanley Cup ring and is seen as a major purpose the Bruins have made the Stanley Cup Ultimate thrice since 2011, having performed his total profession with the staff. O’Reilly is on his third NHL staff and simply made it previous the primary spherical for the primary time. Till not too long ago, he thought he was the rationale his groups at all times misplaced.
One is the participant everybody desires to be. The opposite is a participant lastly determining who he’s.
Except for Zdeno Chara, nobody is extra synonymous with the Bruins’ present period of dominance than Patrice Bergeron. Brian Babineau/NHLI by way of Getty Pictures
This by no means will get outdated for Patrice Bergeron.
Not after two Olympic gold medals, world championship gold, World Cup of Hockey gold, world junior gold, two convention titles and the Stanley Cup championship. The anticipation of a collection such because the one he is in towards St. Louis by no means feels odd.
“The day when there can be no extra adrenaline, I’ll retire,” he stated on the eve of Recreation 1. “That is what you’re searching for as an athlete. You wish to push your limits. Adrenaline, stress and butterflies, it’s a must to handle it the fitting approach to make use of it to your benefit. These are very rewarding experiences. I put it in my treasure chest.”
We’re undecided the place Patrice Bergron’s treasure chest is positioned. We are able to report that he would not hold his secret formulation for faceoffs in his locker stall, based on teammate Charlie Coyle.
“I want, I want,” Coyle stated, laughing. “However I ask him questions, about enjoying towards a sure man or about what’s working or not working. It helps.”
Coyle met Bergeron when he was round 12 years outdated and enjoying in a hockey event at Bridgewater Area, about 45 minutes from Coyle’s hometown of Weymouth, Massachusetts. (Maybe you’ve got heard this geographic trivia about Coyle a few times or 10,00zero instances throughout the Bruins’ playoff run.) It was throughout the 2005 NHL lockout, and Bergeron was skating with the AHL Windfall Bruins. After the sport, he met Coyle and his teammates, and the younger future NHLer was starstruck for all times.
“He was a younger man, however he appeared actually outdated in comparison with us,” Coyle stated.
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Quick-forward to the 2019 commerce deadline, and Bergeron was the primary Bruin to name Coyle after the Minnesota Wild moved him to Boston in a deal for Ryan Donato. It was hours earlier than the Bruins have been on the point of play, and Bergeron took the time to welcome Coyle, who was again to being that 12-year-old for a second.
“I have been watching him for some time, and enjoying towards him via the years was a nightmare,” Coyle stated. “Nice stick. He is at all times on you. Not the quickest man. Not the strongest man. He is aware of what he is good at, and he does it so effectively.
“Simply going towards him in apply, that helps too. For him to be that good defensively and be so good offensively … it is loopy.”
There are lots of causes the Boston Bruins are constant contenders, however the major one is veteran management and the tradition that is born from it. Harvard College needs it had educators just like the Bruins have in Bergeron and Zdeno Chara. Defensemen Torey Krug, Brandon Carlo and Charlie McAvoy have all grown from enjoying with Chara. A group of younger forwards have realized by emulating Bergeron. In each circumstances, these award-winning all-stars are as revered off the ice as they’re on it.
Boston heart Sean Kuraly was requested what he has realized from Bergeron. “Oh man, get the laundry listing out,” he stated. “I feel the most important factor about Bergy is his consistency and the best way he approaches each single day. You are available in for apply on perhaps a type of 11 days in our break, and perhaps it is a gradual day, and him and [Brad Marchand] and Zee are going all-out. It is full-go. I feel the most important factor for Bergy is simply how he approaches each single day, and he is simply such a professional with it, and all of his expertise would not harm both. How he actually does mix his expertise with how laborious he works is actually spectacular.”
Bergeron’s worth to the Bruins was by no means extra evident than in Recreation three of the Stanley Cup Ultimate. In scoring a power-play objective halfway via the primary interval, he managed to quiet the Blues’ raucous crowd, get himself going offensively, begin a Four-for-Four evening on the facility play and provides Boston the beginning it wanted.
“We knew it was going to be a loud constructing. A superb begin was vital,” he stated. “I feel you depend on the expertise. Attempt to assist the younger guys on what to anticipate.”
Bergeron led by instance, and the Bruins adopted. As Charlie Coyle stated, that is simply how it’s in Boston.
“He is such an trustworthy participant. He does every little thing so good, in all places on the ice,” Coyle stated. “You root for individuals like that.”
O’Reilly, proper, admitted to shedding his love of the sport at instances throughout his stint in Buffalo, however he has discovered it once more in St. Louis. AP Picture/Jeff Roberson
For some time, Ryan O’Reilly thought he was the issue.
He had performed 651 regular-season video games within the NHL, and solely 13 within the postseason, all with the Colorado Avalanche. His three seasons with the Buffalo Sabres have been disastrous from a staff perspective, because the Sabres started a “rebuild inside a rebuild” after his second season. His tenure ended with the beautiful revelation that he had “misplaced the love of the sport a number of instances” throughout final season.
Blues GM Doug Armstrong, who traded for O’Reilly final summer season, was by no means involved about him shedding his smile.
“That truthfully gave me zero pause. If you’re a part of a corporation that is not having success, you in all probability — he was talking from the guts. He was annoyed. He needed extra from himself,” he stated. “I’ve had a chance to work with him internationally, I do know what the person’s manufactured from. You may even return to the [NHL combine]. We might say to gamers, ‘Who’s the toughest man to play towards?’ And his title stored at all times popping up. We should always have drafted him.”
In truth, when O’Reilly obtained the commerce name from Armstrong, his message was, “Thanks for bringing me in … let’s go win a Cup.”
Then the St. Louis Blues began shedding. And shedding some extra. So many losses that they ended up within the NHL’s basement as late as January.
“It was irritating. I used to be coming off a nasty 12 months, I come to an important staff, after which they get off to a nasty begin. I used to be fearful I used to be an enormous a part of why they have been shedding — that I needed to one thing to do with it,” he stated.
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O’Reilly spoke to his father, Brian, a sports activities efficiency coach who consults with the San Jose Sharks. He requested him if, maybe, he have been the issue. His father gave him this recommendation: Wait it out. Be affected person. This was a brand new staff, with a couple of key additions from the earlier summer season becoming a member of O’Reilly on the Blues. It was going to take time to return collectively.
It will definitely did, in one of many extra dramatic turnarounds in latest NHL historical past.
“It is superb how issues turned out. It actually is a rollercoaster … you undergo this large run, and also you’re undecided if there’s going to be adjustments, and so they persist with us, and we stick collectively. We hold going, and we discover a strategy to win. Then you definately win one collection, after which one other and one other,” O’Reilly stated, motioning along with his hand.
“At instances, I’ve to pinch myself. It is bizarre. It would not really feel like June. It simply appears like I have been enjoying hockey. However round this time, I am often resting. Doing nothing. Away from the sport. It is what the dream is: to be in these situations. On my off days, I attempt to steer clear of hockey. Clear my head. However it creeps into your head generally. You must calm your self again down.”
By the Blues’ early struggles, O’Reilly was constantly their greatest participant. He performed in all 82 video games, posting one of the best points-per-game common (zero.94) of his profession and tying his profession better of 28 targets, regardless of beginning lower than 50 % of his even-strength shifts within the offensive zone. Defensively, he had an anticipated targets share of 57.57 and was a plus-24 in targets at 5-on-5.
“Simply an all-around nice two-way heart. The form of participant that you want to go far and succeed,” Blues teammate Tyler Bozak stated. “I realized that enjoying towards him, and truthfully enjoying with him you notice that he is higher than you even thought. Particularly with how laborious he works. I had heard about his work ethic and the way he takes care of himself off the ice. However to see it’s spectacular. He is one of many first guys on the ice at apply [and] one of many final guys off.”
Like Bergeron, he leads by instance.
“Each time you contact the ice, work ethic is crucial factor, whenever you get an opportunity to apply and work on the stuff you’re fighting,” he stated. “I realized from my dad at a younger age that it’s a must to put within the time. It is one thing that builds confidence in me. Practising these uncomfortable performs. The extra time I put in, the higher I really feel coming into the sport. We’ve got some younger guys right here who prefer to work. They offer me vitality as effectively.”
O’Reilly has that Sidney Crosby-esque factor the place if a play goes fallacious throughout a sport, he’ll take it aside and put it again collectively in apply.
“If there is a play final sport that I mishandled or I did not see what I needed to see on it, I take some reps on that. So if it occurs once more, I am not fearful about it,” he stated.
Generally it’s a must to strip hockey right down to its fundamentals, resembling timing, endurance and persistence. That is the way you be taught out of your lowest moments — or, within the case of O’Reilly, be taught that you just aren’t the rationale they occur.
“I’ve the best job on this planet,” he stated. “However shedding sucks. Dropping is the worst a part of it. To win is one of the best a part of it.”
As completely different as they’re, that holds true for each Ryan O’Reilly and Patrice Bergeron.
Bergeron and O’Reilly haven’t been on the ice towards one another typically via three video games within the Stanley Cup Ultimate, however every is very conscious of the opposite’s actions. Steve BabineauNHLI by way of Getty Pictures
Berube and Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy have not given Bergeron and O’Reilly a lot head-to-head motion via three video games of the Stanley Cup Ultimate. They barely see one another at 5-on-5. The battle of two of one of the best defensive centermen on the planet has been fought within the summary and the intangibles.
“Clearly, he is one of the best two-way participant within the sport in the present day,” O’Reilly stated of Bergeron earlier than the collection. “The factor I like about our staff is our depth. We’ve got loads of guys who can play laborious.”
When he does see Bergeron on the ice?
“I feel, ‘I gotta transfer, I gotta get away. I want to flee.’ Good gamers are at all times in the fitting place,” O’Reilly stated.
One of many two will hoist the Stanley Cup on the finish of this collection. O’Reilly may create a legacy. Bergeron may additional cement one. And in the event that they fall brief, they’ve realized that these experiences are those you be taught from and those you should utilize to assist others be taught.
“You attempt to use your expertise in nice moments, I wish to use it as greatest as I can. I’ve distinctive and unforgettable reminiscences of our win in 2011. For 2013 [losing in the Cup Final], it was a tougher second. However I realized from each experiences,” Bergeron stated. “I’d say that I could have grown up extra within the Ultimate defeat. I’ve stated it typically for the reason that starting of the collection. I take the times one after the other. I keep within the second.”