With Zdeno Chara leaving Boston Bruins after 14 seasons to join Washington Capitals, the captain’s position was made available with the B’s. It was pretty apparent who was going to play with the “C” on his shirt, but the Bruins wanted to have a little fun first.
Patrice Bergeron was everyone’s guess for the role and probably expected to be named captain with the departure of his former teammate.
Announcing that someone is the captain is fun, but what’s more fun is playing a trick on him first.
On Thursday, team president Cam Neely and general manager Don Sweeney visited the Warrior Ice Arena in the locker room to make the announcement.
“I think this is an appropriate time to make our announcement regarding the captaincy,” said Sweeney. “The organization needed to make a decision on this, we thought it was appropriate, so I won’t even go ahead with the point that I think I’m going to choose, ask Marchy to come and accept the captaincy.”
Brad Marchand came to accept the tribute, while they raised their shirt made with the “C” and everything, while Bergeron sat, looking a little sad.
“Really looking forward to taking the next step, but I think we all know who the real captain is,” said Marchand, trying to control himself and not make the joke obvious. “Congratulations Bergy.”
Bergeron was presented with the shirt of the royal captain and gave a brief speech in accepting the new challenge.
“It’s a great honor, guys, obviously. As we’ve seen, there are a lot of guys who deserve the card. It’s not about the card. It’s about coming together as a team, everyone taking ownership of this locker room,” said Bergeron. “As Sweeney said, there have been some incredible captains in the history of this organization and I will try to improve myself and continue to lead by example and try to be me, and continue to learn from all of you.”
He continued, saying, “We all have to be responsible for each other and be there, come together and do something special. Everyone works towards the same goal … thanks again. Great honor.”
His companions applauded and celebrated his new captain.