Patrice Bergeron overlapped with Tom Brady more than any other Boston athlete -- from Bergeron’s rookie season with the Bruins in 2003 to Brady’s departure from the Patriots in 2020.
As it turns out, Bergeron actually drew some inspiration from Brady and the Patriots two years before he even got drafted by Boston in 2003.
When Brady won his first Super Bowl in Feb. 2002 (2001 season), Bergeron was a 16-year-old junior player for the Seminaire St-Francois Blizzard in Quebec City. Normally, American football would not be something a bunch of teenagers in Quebec would pay attention to or care about.
But the Patriots caught the attention of Bergeron and his teammates for one reason: They were underdogs. New England went into the Super Bowl as 14-point underdogs against the St. Louis Rams, but pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.
Bergeron’s team also entered their playoffs as underdogs, so where better to turn for inspiration?
“It’s funny, because when I was 16, playing midget triple-A back home, I think that was the year they won their first Super Bowl with that field goal, [Adam] Vinatieri,” Bergeron recalled Tuesday. “It was a last-second thing and I think they were kind of the wild card to win it. For us back home, we kind of used that to our advantage as motivation to push ourselves to be our best. We were also in our playoff series and we were the underdog. We kind of used that sequence or that game to give us some motivation.”
The Blizzard ultimately came up short that postseason, but Brady and the Patriots were now on Bergeron’s radar. Little did he know he’d be sharing the Boston sports scene with them for the better part of two decades beginning just two years later.
Unsurprisingly, Bergeron has since adopted the Patriots as his favorite football team, and he long admired what Brady was able to do. With Brady officially announcing his retirement on Tuesday, Bergeron was asked what stood out to him about Brady.
“His competitiveness, first and foremost,” Bergeron said. “The way that he approached the game, the way that he competed and wanted to win -- his will to win was bar none the best I’ve seen and witnessed. It was a pleasure to watch for 22 years, I think. Amazing career, and a well deserved retirement.”