Bergeron/By S. Bradley
WILMINGTON, Mass. — Bruins head coach Claude Julien said today during a press conference at Ristuccia Arena that there hasn’t been much change in center Patrice Bergeron’s condition.
It was learned Saturday that Bergeron suffered a mild concussion Friday night against Philadelphia.
The coach knows from his own team’s history with concussions to Bergeron, Marc Savard, David Krejci and others, the recovery process can be slow and there won’t be drastic change every day.
“You guys know he’s got a mild concussion so I don’t think there’s much of a change here,” said Julien, whose team is still waiting for the NHL to determine its Eastern Conference finals schedule for the series with Tampa Bay.
“I don’t know that every day it’s going to be one of those questions wondering what’s going on with him. I think the best thing is that we hopefully plan on updating you as we see progress here. I’ve texted with him, obviously he’s talked with a lot of people and we’re hoping for the best here – No. 1 for his sake. I’ve always said that when it comes to concussions, you think about the person first and not the player.
“And we’ll deal with the situation and make the best of it. But there’s no doubt we’d love to have him back. But not until he’s 100 percent and ready to go.”
As for the hit from Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, who knocked out Bergeron early in the third period of Boston’s series-clinching Game 4 win, replays seemed to show it was pretty late. But Julien wasn’t sure there was anything outside of the rules in the play.
“It’s borderline. I just wish sometimes – we don’t want to take the physical part out of it, it is part of it – you just wish somehow we could cut down on those concussions,” said Julien. “Again, not necessarily for the game of hockey, but more for the individuals. We know how serious those things are and somehow they seem to be creeping up in our game and we’re trying to find ways to minimize those. But was it borderline late? Maybe. But it’s kind of real iffy. I don’t know that it was intended to injure. It’s just an unfortunate hit.”
Bittersweet is right. Losing Bergeron is brutal.
Brain injuries are not like other injuries. This isn’t a knee injury we’re talking about here, where you can do things to make reinjury less likely. Patty’s had 3 documented head injuries now. He needs to take as much time as he needs to get healthy. The priority to me is the overall health of his brain over any athletic competition.
Get healthy, 37! B’s fans love ya.
This guy gives so much to this team there is no replacing him.Give Seguin a chance under this kind of pressure and hold the fort till he gets back.
GO BRUINS GO!!! ALL OF EM.
If they are adamant that it’s a mild concussion I say he’ll be back by game 3. Maybe sooner. I don’t know if prior history would alter the recovery time frame. Hopefully a mild one for Patrice would be no different than anyone of us.
I too doubt he comes back at all. Go wings and preds
So we will all be rooting for the Redwings and Predators to take their games to a 7 game series and give Bergeron a little extra healing time.
I still think it is unlikely he returns, but if he gets back I would love to see him out there.
His concussion he got from Seidenburg knocked him unconscious and he was back about two weeks later. If we look at that as a guess of how long he will be out, it could be 4 games or more
I think it was late, but agree it was more borderline and those borderline late hits happen often in the game.
I don’t think there was intent to injure so much as there was intent to take Bergeron out of the game mentally-hitting him hard and often whenever there was opportunity. Just this time that one hit took him out period.
The sweep is very bittersweet at this point, and hopefully the team can survive Tampa. I am not so optimistic that Bergeron will be back to play this year. I think given his concussion history he is likely done for the year.
I think it was late one. Not a bad one or anything else but it was a late one for sure.