No rest for Bergeron, B's Olympians

Written by Justin Rice

Monday, February 15, 2010 04:59

Patrice Bergeron arrived in Vancouver on Sunday, 24 hours after his Boston Bruins played the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. While there will be no rest for Bergeron or five of his other teammates competing in the two-week Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament, the 24-year-old Team Canada center hopes the rest of the Bruins get some rest and relaxation. “Hopefully for most of the guys they can get to go home and rest and get to think about things,” Bergeron said before the Bruins lost in another shootout — to Vancouver, of all teams — on Feb. 6, “and hopefully regroup for the last part of the season.” The loss was Boston’s 10th straight before a 3-0 victory against Montreal the next day avoided tying the longest losing streak in franchise history, set by the Bruins in their inaugural 1924-25 season. Two nights later, the Bruins finally won a shootout by beating Buffalo 3-2 and two nights after that they beat Tampa Bay. Bergeron, who missed the 2007-08 season with a concussion, had 12 goals and 25 assists through 53 games this season but knows he has a lot to learn from his teammates on the heavily favored Canadian team. And once the tournament begins it will be all business, leaving little time to check out all the other events in Vancouver. “I’m going to be in my little bubble there and stay focused,” he said, “but at the same time I’m sure I’m going to have a chance to meet all the athletes. “I’m looking forward to meeting all the athletes from different sports, not really one in particular although I’m looking forward to speed skating and stuff like that. Just really enjoying the whole experience of the whole thing.” Speaking before the Canucks game and the Bruins' eventual three-game win streak, however, Bergeron was looking forward to joining a squad that is actually favored to win something. “I’m looking forward to seeing all the guys. I’m actually looking forward to the whole experience,” he said. “It’s going to be amazing. Playing at home we’ve played there against the Canucks and the crowd is so loud and the building is always so loud and sold out it’s always fun to play there. So I think the crowd will help us.” In 2005 Bergeron won gold in the World Junior Tournament and hopes to repeat that success. “I have two [medals] actually,” he said. “They’re nicely sitting on the wall there back home. … We have high expectations for ourselves so I think its fine that we got pressure from all the fans and the whole country. Obviously we want to win, especially at home like that. So I think that’s normal. As a team we gotta handle the high expectations if we want to do well. “That’s fine. We have high expectations of ourselves. It’s something you have to enjoy the moment. The fans are going to be behind us. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”