A Tribute to Brad Marchand | Pucks With Haggs Podcast - video Dailymotion

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Joe Haggerty is joined by Mick Colageo for today's episode of Pucks With Haggs, following game number 1,000 for Captain Brad Marchand. Joe and Mick look back at the journey #63 has made to get to this point in his career, and how unexpected it was years ago. That, and much more!     This episode of the Pucks with Haggs Podcast is brought to you by Fanduel Sportsbook. Fanduel Sportsbook is the exclusive wagering parter of the CLNS Media Network! New customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Just visit FanDuel.com/BOSTON to sign up. Make every moment more with FanDuel, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL.    Must be 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.    Factor. Visit https://factormeals.com/HAGGS50 to get 50% off your first box! Factor is America’s #1 Ready-To-Eat Meal Kit, can help you fuel up fast with ready-to-eat meals delivered straight to your door.

Transcript

00:00 I was also amazed by how pissed off the Lightning players were every time they were getting called

00:05 for tripping penalties. There were obvious tripping penalties. The Hagel one was hilarious.

00:10 They were flipping out on the refs and you'd watch the replay and you're like,

00:12 what exactly are they complaining about here? Hagel went nuts and yet he literally

00:19 put his stick in Marcian skates, tripped them. It was so textbook obvious.

00:24 Welcome to another edition of the Pucks with Hags podcast. I'm always, as always,

00:34 I'm your host, Joe Hagerty. You can find my work at joehagerty.substack.com. Join up for a premium

00:38 membership and you'll get all of my NHL and Bruins writing sent straight to your inbox with me. As

00:46 always, a friend and colleague, Mick Colaggio. Mick, tell everybody where they can find your stuff.

00:52 Every Sunday in bostonhockeynow.com, I do a column to compliment Jimmy Murphy's work there

00:58 on that site, Hags alumnus. And I do my blog on game nights. I blog live from the Bruins home

01:07 games at rinkwrapmc.com, link to it on X Twitter and Facebook. And I also pair in the seasonal

01:14 issues of the hockey news. There you go. And I should mention, I also write columns for the

01:19 Boston sports general. You can actually check out something I wrote today up there. I talked to

01:25 Patrice Bergeron for a good half hour yesterday, just about Brad Marsh and his thousandth game.

01:32 And also I'm going to be writing about it this weekend. Some of the, you know, just how retirement

01:37 is going for Bergen, what some of his thoughts are on it's settling in now that it's been a while. So

01:42 I look, look forward to that, writing that. I hope you look forward to reading that.

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03:01 Bruins lose three to two in the shutout, in a shootout to Tampa Bay. Obviously a bunch better

03:09 game than we saw the game prior against Washington. And then, you know, a couple of games

03:14 before that against Calgary, it was a nice bounce back effort where I thought they deserved to win

03:19 and played well enough to win. Having lost three to two, Marcian plays in his thousandth game,

03:25 gets a long ovation during a video montage in the first period, kind of announcing and

03:31 commemorating his milestone. He looked really emotional during the national anthem, kind of

03:36 looking around in the stands, taking it all in and sort of embracing and enjoying the moment.

03:41 And I think that's something that all of us, as we get older, do more, you know, and I think he's

03:46 a 35 year old guy that's been around for a while, knows he's not going to play forever. And so you

03:51 start to sort of smell the roses and look around a little bit and savor those great moments or those

03:56 things that happened there. I would imagine there was also a feeling of kind of looking around and

04:02 realizing there's no David Creechie, no Zidane O'Chara, no Patrice Bergeron, like, you know,

04:07 a lot of his compatriots and the guys that he played with for a long time are gone. And he's

04:11 now the guy sort of leading the way and getting to hitting the milestones and getting all the

04:16 career sort of things that you get when you've played more games than you're going to play

04:22 in the future. Just your thoughts on the night, the game, Brad Marcian's accomplishment, just all

04:29 that stuff. What'd you take out of last night's game? They looked engaged. They looked like they

04:37 wanted to play for Marcian. I think they, you know, they obviously didn't want to disappoint

04:43 their captain. So the intensity was back. It's obviously a tough slug at this time of the season.

04:53 They're manufacturing energy, whereas other teams have come into the building,

05:00 naturally generating it from their desperation, either as players or as teams. And the Bruins

05:10 had something to play for last night. And it was nice to see the response. I always get really

05:16 disappointed whenever, I mean, the Lightning have been their daddy for so long. Yeah. I mean,

05:23 you go back to 11 for the last time, the Bruins were their daddy. And now it's by the skin of

05:29 Crecce's to Horton's teeth. So, yeah, it's great to see Marcian, you know, he credits Bergeron for

05:40 helping him mature as a person. And all of this talk they throw around and flower bouquets of

05:46 flowers, they toss back and forth. It's all true, because Marcian, even amidst the disappointment of

05:55 the flat performance Saturday against the Capitals, our pal Kevin DuPont, through Marcian, a question

06:02 to switch gears about approaching this game. And his response was excellent. You know, he,

06:11 there's the context of the moment of what just happened on the ice, and there's a context of

06:15 the season, and there's a context to your career. And he just seems so present and able to engage.

06:23 And I think that's really speaks to his ability as a captain and the right leader for this team

06:28 and the go-to guy, because he has those sensibilities.

06:33 Typically, and typically for Marcian defiant in the way he kind of answered it too, which is him,

06:40 you know, like, A, there was the answers to the questions after that game about, you know,

06:46 are you worried or concerned? And he's like, I'm not concerned. We're fine. Like, it was that,

06:51 that was great leadership. I thought that was just, you know, there's no panic here.

06:56 We're okay. It's a couple of bad losses. Like he's been through this before. He understands

07:00 exactly what kind of a stretch that they're in, that it's going to be up and down.

07:04 It's going to be kind of boom or bust. But then when they got, they got to your question,

07:09 the dupes question that you're talking about, I kind of loved his attitude of like, you know,

07:16 this would, it used to be a goal. And as I started to approach it, it wasn't really a goal anymore.

07:21 I hit a thousand games because I knew I was going to get there barring an injury. Now it becomes

07:26 playing in 13, 14, 1500 games. Now it becomes playing in the Olympics in 2026. Now it becomes

07:32 winning another Stanley cup. Now it becomes, you know, looking, being present, but also having

07:38 goals of things he wants to attain that are going to be much more difficult, but things.

07:42 As a dad, you can think of your kids and think of what he was saying about,

07:48 I want my kids to see that. Yes. You know, I'm playing for that now.

07:51 Yes. So all of that, it was awesome. And he's awesome. You know, so,

07:57 and that really, really, I'm totally on the Marsham bandwagon. Not that it took me a long

08:03 time to get there. I've always loved him as a player, even when he was on the black aces at

08:08 the, and during the 2010 playoffs in Philadelphia, I loved how he embraced his role on the team

08:13 and practice with Timmy Thomas and, and all that was going on. You think to yourself,

08:19 hypothetically, man, what if they had put him in at that point? He was ready.

08:25 Found a way to get him, put him in instead of Trent Winfield. Yeah. I've thought about that

08:29 before. My success. Hey, Whitfield, you know, God bless him. He had a breakaway that would have won

08:34 that would have ended the series and, and didn't go in. And who knows if Marsham would have ever

08:40 been in the same skates, but you know, Hey, they won the next year. So I guess that's all that

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09:19 And last, you know, last night is just, as far as the game goes, I thought it was also

09:28 just a great microcosm of who Brad Marshand is showing up and having a great game and in a

09:36 milestone big, you know, stage type thing for him that, that goal, the JVR scored,

09:43 the tied up the game. That was all Marshand. That was him finding a way to get through a couple of

09:49 guys up by the high blue line, just not giving up, continuing to like, not give up on the play

09:55 and try to make something out of it, attacking with speed and his edges and everything else.

10:00 And then it turns into him getting that shot and JVR pops in the rebound, but that like,

10:05 that whole like possession, that whole play, everything that happened in that sequence,

10:11 where they scored, that was number 63, making something happen out of nothing.

10:15 Seen that happen so many times with him when there's defenders all around him,

10:19 somehow he gets out of it with the puck and it looks like he's going to lose it a couple of times,

10:24 but he finds a way to get it back in and make something happen.

10:27 - The zone entry seemed like a 5% chance.

10:30 - Yeah. And he had an all world goalie with the shot and that turns into JVR scoring on the

10:38 rebound. But like, you know, that play in that sequence was Brad Marshand, vintage Marshand at

10:45 his best. And it was awesome to see that in a game that meant so much to him and where it was about

10:51 him, frankly, for a lot of it.

10:52 - Yeah. I mean, being old enough to be some of these hockey players' grandfather,

10:56 I tend now to have morphed in my life to a point where I'm more happy for them than I am for myself

11:04 when they win. I'm thinking more like, you know, I'm happy for him after double labrum in his mid

11:12 thirties to go through a whole season where he doesn't feel quite right and then come back and

11:18 achieve who he is at the soul of his game as a hockey player. I'm happy for him to see that. I'm

11:27 happy for the team that it happened. So good for Marshand, good for the Bruins. You know, hey,

11:35 good tie last night. It's a T in my standings.

11:39 - Yeah. No, that was a good game, a playoff style game against a really quality opponent.

11:46 You could tell both sides really wanted it bad. I mean, I thought Kucherov was going to go cuckoo

11:52 in the third period. He was really getting frustrated, slamming his sticks on the boards,

11:57 breaking them. Like he was...

11:59 - He did that last time they played in Boston. It was hilarious. It was because of Marshand.

12:03 - Yes.

12:04 - It drove him crazy.

12:04 - But like, and then Cooper mentioned this after the game that like, he always knows whenever the

12:10 Lightning and Bruins play each other, it's going to be a really fun game to coach and it's going to

12:13 be high intensity and they want to beat each other and they really get up for those games. So like,

12:19 regardless of whether Marshand's, it was his thousandth game or not, I think they would have

12:24 come out with a good effort against that team. And it also, it did make me think last night when I

12:30 was watching that game, is this like a potential first round playoff match? It's something we're

12:36 going to see when the Bruins are trying to get out of the Atlantic division bracket. And I think

12:42 there's a very realistic chance it could happen. And to your point about them being the Bruins

12:46 daddies in recent playoff history, it's absolutely right. But let's face it, this is also not the

12:51 same Tampa Bay Lightning team that won back-to-back cups.

12:54 - None of those circuits you have.

12:56 - No. And they've still got some of the guys, obviously, but Hedman's a little older now.

13:01 Stamkos is a little older now. Kucharov is actually at the top, obviously at the top of his

13:05 game. Braden Point's still an incredibly strong player. You know, Vasilevskiy...

13:09 - Torelli. Torelli was good last night.

13:11 - 36 saves. Vasilevskiy like stole that game as far as I'm concerned.

13:15 - Yeah.

13:15 - But, you know, so they're a worthy opponent, but I think they're at a point now where that's

13:22 also a beatable opponent for the Bruins if they saw it.

13:25 - Well, let's watch the deadline. They're always proactive. I got them in the sweepstakes. I think

13:30 even if, you know, the cap doesn't look like it can be done for them, I can't see them standing

13:38 pat. They never do. They're the team that goes out and gets the guy that I think the Bruins should

13:42 get. And I think that's going to happen again now. I just don't know if it's Tanev or Hanefin,

13:47 but I think it's going to happen.

13:48 - You think the Pamper Bay Lightning are going to get Noah Hanefin?

13:50 - Or Tanev. I think somehow they're going to do something.

13:54 - They might get Tanev.

13:55 - They're going to come up with a significant get to replace Sergeyev. It's going to happen.

13:59 - Yeah. And like, let's be honest, I think it was, what was it, Dave Nones was at the game

14:04 last night. I think that's something worthy of noting that, you know, the Calgary Flames had

14:11 several people at that game last night watching both the Lightning and the Bruins and scouting

14:16 them. And I, you know, they're obviously going to be part of the arms race with Calgary looking to

14:21 trade off some pieces. So all that is going to be interesting. Yeah. I mean, I don't think I've

14:31 talked to you about them, them struggling in those two losses. Did you have much concern about the

14:38 losses to Calgary and Washington and the way they looked coming out of the all-star break? Did that

14:44 set off any like alarm bells or warning signs with you?

14:47 - Well, two teams on the ice, and I've been quoting the crap out of Andrew Raycroft ever

14:51 since he said, this is a tough time of year for the Bruins because everybody's getting up for them.

14:56 - Yeah.

14:56 - And everybody is either desperate to try to, and everybody who plays either trying

15:01 to win first place, trying to make the playoffs or playing for their careers in the NHL.

15:05 - Well, and people forget-

15:06 - And Calgary outworked them. Calgary was just tough. They were tough.

15:10 - People forget too, Mick, that like when they won the cup in 2011, the Bruins, when they got

15:15 all the way to the cup finals against Chicago in 2013, this is the time of the year where they

15:21 started like wildly swinging back and forth between winning and losing games. Remember,

15:25 Claude called them Jekyll and Hyde in 2000.

15:27 - Yes.

15:28 - Going down the stretch because they wouldn't show up at times.

15:31 - Right.

15:31 - And then win games. But like, they're in the same boat as that, those teams,

15:35 where they know they're going to be in the playoffs. At this point in the year,

15:39 teams are looking at them to measure themselves against them. And it's hard for them to,

15:44 as you said, manufacture urgency, manufacture whatever against night after night. Some nights

15:51 they're going to be able to do it, and other nights you're going to see them flat as a pancake

15:54 against a team like the Capitals. It's going to happen.

15:56 - Yeah. Hand urgency can never stand up to the real thing. Yeah. So, I mean, organic farmed

16:04 urgency is sustainable and grows. Anyway, yeah. That's how I felt about Calgary. I just felt like,

16:15 yeah, were they awful? Eh, it was flat. But disappointing in that regard. I felt bad for

16:21 all the fans who were probably trying to get tickets last summer and thought, "Oh, here's my

16:27 big chance." They let everybody walk. I'll finally get to go to my first Bruins game.

16:31 And who knows how many hundred dollars they're out, and they show up and get a dud. And then

16:37 the Capitals, I saw the Bruins starting to really try to get back in that game. And every time they

16:42 did, I saw the pride on the Capitals bench. That's a banged up, rickety old, geriatric

16:50 group there that's just got holes all over the place and shadow of their championship selves

16:57 from how many years ago is it now? Six. And staying together too long. And because they're

17:05 hogtied to Ovechkin's chase of Wayne Gretzky. And the result of all of that is that they get

17:12 in a game against the Bruins. They lucked their way into a situation. They realized, started to

17:17 believe, and they played with pride and they got better as the game went. And when it was over,

17:23 I went down the hallway to visit his end to find Scotty Allen, my old compadre from New Bedford

17:30 area. He's coached in the minors for about a thousand years and has been an assistant on the

17:35 Capitals since Peter LaViolette was there. And he was positively giddy. I mean, just to be happy for

17:44 the guys in that room to have something good happen in their season. And for anybody coming

17:49 into Boston and getting a W with against the Bruins, that's how they felt about it. And,

17:54 you know, good for them. I mean, they did, they deserve the win. And, uh, the Bruins fans, I did,

18:00 I agree with you. I felt bad for the Bruins fans that forked over big money for that game against

18:05 the Capitals. Cause I just thought, you know, the Bruins had four shots on that in the first

18:09 and second period. And it did not show up in that game for Anthony Richard, the five minutes left in

18:16 the first period for large portions of it, but they did get to see history, Mick. They did get

18:22 to see Alex Ovechkin pass Wayne Gretzky in that game. You know that, right? Um, no, no, I don't.

18:28 The net goal that he got at the end, he surpassed Wayne Gretzky for like the all-time NHL leader

18:35 for empty net goals, Alex Ovechkin. So he did, uh, Wayne Gretzky, uh, in some form or fashion

18:41 for a record, uh, where Bruins fans at least got to see some history in that empty net,

18:45 that history. The way it's going, that's the only way he's going to pass them. That's right.

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20:07 to factor meals, it gets the hags thumbs up seal of approval. There was a lot to, to sort of peel

20:14 through, uh, from that game last night. I guess the other thing that the major thing that stands

20:18 out, um, is the power play, which has been struggling lately. Uh, went Oh, for six in that

20:23 game last night. And really I think that's Vasilevsky being as dominant as he was. I mean,

20:29 that saving made on Marciano all by himself and overtime right in front of the net was amazing.

20:34 Um, and, uh, the power play is the other part of it too, that factored into the winner or loss in

20:41 that game. They went over six, they had chances. Um, and then aside, which I wrote about a little

20:47 bit that I was also, uh, amazed by how pissed off the lightning players were every time they

20:53 were getting called for tripping penalties. There were obvious tripping penalties.

20:56 And the Hagel one was hilarious. They were flipping out on the refs and you'd watch the

21:00 replay and you're like, what exactly are they composing? The boat went nuts. And yet he,

21:06 he literally put his stick in Marcian skates, trip. It was so textbook obvious.

21:13 And Cernak too. It was a sweep check where a stick got in posture.

21:17 That was more like Larry bird doing an up fake and then jumping into the guy and going to the

21:22 line. I mean, he got a stick in his past. He did what anybody would do. The sweep shock was there.

21:29 He made sure he went over a stick and on the stick and wiped out, you know,

21:33 what a defender is culpable in that case. If you make that play as a D man and you don't get the

21:39 puck first, then, then I'm sorry. If the skater finds your, your stick, however intentional,

21:47 as long as he doesn't dive, when he does it, you go on a little box. That's, that's the price of

21:51 making that play potential. So, but, but the Bruins, six on the power play and struggling

21:58 as of late and the penalty kills been struggling as of late as well, the special teams struggles

22:03 in both directions, but more so the power play we'd be talking about after Tampa Bay game,

22:08 any concern there, anything that you think? Yeah. Yeah. I do have concern there. I just

22:13 find that they're trying to be too neat, too technical, too pretty and go on for perfection.

22:20 And, and when the perfect play, the perfect setup, those are going to come and there's going to be

22:28 stretches in which they don't. And when they're not, you have to have a B game and a B game on

22:33 the power play to me is bodies to the net crash and burn, make some noise, do some things that,

22:40 that upset the PK and, and and have some game that is something less, something more than just

22:49 trying harder and harder to find that perfect formula to make that play that you drew up

22:55 in the room. I mean I think Marcia is the perfect player to improvise. I think McAvoy,

23:03 even though he's not a great power play player he is a really good on ice improviser. So I want

23:12 to see improvisation. I want to see less of the technical pursuit and a little more of the chaotic

23:22 pursuit. I mean, be more like Sugar Ray Leonard when he knew he was losing to Tommy Hearns on

23:28 points and come out there and just blitz them and see what happens. He was going down and Hearns

23:34 was going down and Leonard won. He had to cop a DM to make that happen. That's why he was a great,

23:41 a great champion. As pissed off as I was about the Hagler fight.

23:45 Well, what you're talking about is what the way the Bruins power play was when Torrey Krug was

23:51 running the point where they would constantly change positions, be moving around, be unpredictable,

23:57 you know, do things in spots where the penalty kill was not expecting them to be. And it made

24:03 them really tough to defend because you could have all of a sudden Torrey Krug on the half wall and

24:08 somebody up running one of the points and they were constantly moving around, changing positions.

24:12 And it wasn't just necessarily centered around setting up Pasternak for one time or running

24:17 through Pasternak at the faceoff dot. And it was like a lot different then. But I, I, I see some

24:23 of that now I'd want to see more, I guess what I'm, I guess what I'm getting at is I probably would

24:28 like to see more, see, see Geeky standing in front of the goalie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See Freddie

24:34 standing in front of the goalie. If it's Jake DeBrusque, then it's all about his stick. And if

24:39 there's a body, they're boxing him out. Then it's, then it's, then he doesn't contest it. Right. And,

24:46 and, and he's, you know, it's so it's, it's stick it's movement with him. They need a more physical

24:51 dimension to how they score on the power play is, is because it, because the rest of it isn't hot

24:57 right now. Sometimes it's hot. Sometimes it's not when it's not, you got to do something else.

25:02 I agree. All right. Tweet of the week. And I think you're going to like this one, Mick.

25:07 I, I kind of answered it that last week a little bit. So this one is all you you're going to get

25:13 to take the floor with this one, but I think it's right in your wheelhouse. Mac, the fan O2 says,

25:19 I enjoy your podcast would be interested in hearing from you and your guests where Bergeron

25:25 and Marcian rank among all time line mates figure. Greta Curry, Trottier, bossy, and you'll

25:31 let me, you Yager ahead in cups and points. Did Kane play regularly with taves? Thanks.

25:37 So there you go, Mick. Yeah. People complain about Monty shuffling the deck.

25:42 Hugh was unbelievable. I mean, I don't think the black Hawks, I would try to chart them knowing

25:49 that they were at the end of the line at the Bruins made it. And I would watch the first 10

25:54 minutes of their game and I'd be on page three trying to figure out what their lines are.

25:58 So, so yeah, boy, I mean, yeah, I'm a bit of a reformed ranker, but yeah,

26:07 yeah, they were, they, they belong in the pantheon of the greats. Absolutely. Yeah.

26:11 I think they do. I mean, when I think about the great, the great two men, yeah, I guess when the,

26:19 the, as, as the Greg Gretzky Curry come along and, and you, and they are sure in the era where it's

26:25 more about two guys and an interchangeable third rather than the magical three. And so, yeah, yeah,

26:34 they're, they're definitely yeah. And it's not so much about comparing numbers and statistics

26:41 because you're not going to compare modernist scoring to 80 scoring with not just those guys,

26:48 but any guys. But yeah. And then, and then I think of the big moments and how they've come together,

26:59 game seven in Vancouver, game seven against Toronto. They, they, it wasn't just what you can

27:04 algorithm out of them. It's, it's what they did to show up when it mattered. I thought that they,

27:12 they, they were of all time, all time, great. And the longevity that they've managed in our era

27:19 to have for so long said, Bergie, take care of this guy, you know, make him, make him into an

27:26 NHL player for us. And, you know, the last few years, Marshy was the driver, you know,

27:33 where he's wrong was like the big brother watching his, his, his little brothers run around the rink

27:40 while he, you know, on their skates while he was in his boots and just sort of like,

27:44 yeah, I think I'll go here. I think I'll go there. And just, you know, he just did whatever he needed

27:49 to do to facilitate them, whatever that was. It just, the relationship on ice and hockey morphed

27:56 as I'm sure their friendship did. So it was, it was a thrill to be part of that, to watch it all

28:05 evolve for a dozen years here. Incredible. And I think like all good duos like all good

28:13 partnerships. And it was funny when I asked Patrice about that yesterday, just like what

28:18 he thinks about, you know, all the stuff that he's accomplished on his own and the things that he did

28:24 in his career that he's recognized for, like, what, how does he feel if, you know, cause I think

28:30 inevitably when people talk about Patrice Bergeron, they're going to talk about Brad Marshian.

28:35 And vice versa, when they talk about Brad Marshian, they're going to talk about Patrice Bergeron and

28:39 just sort of being thought as a duo together. In most instances, you're probably going to be

28:44 talked about in that respect. And he said, I'm honored and it's a privilege and I love it. And

28:49 he said, I hope people think of us when they think of us, they think of us as a duo together and they

28:53 think of like one with the other. And I think that's, that's part of what made them special

28:59 is that kind of mentality and how happy and privileged and lucky they knew they were to be

29:04 playing with each other for as long as they did. And also like any good duo, like any good

29:09 partnership, they were bringing different things to the table. And I think their different strengths

29:14 and weaknesses brought out the best in the other one. You know, I think Brad Marshian sometimes

29:19 brought Patrice Bergeron out of a little bit of an introverted shell sometimes. And, and,

29:23 you know, he brought a little bit more of sort of a carefree attitude, you know,

29:28 to what they were doing. And I think Marshian and Bergeron definitely brought a little more

29:35 discipline, a little more maturity, like all of that stuff out of Marshian, a little more control

29:41 to his game at times when he needed it. And a little more poise at certain points and, and,

29:47 you know, all of that stuff. And I think they're very different personalities, but they both

29:52 were good people, obviously good players and, you know, had a strong desire to be great and,

29:59 you know, be as good as they could be and to win and to be good team people. So like all of that

30:04 stuff together, turn them into this great, you know, partnership that I think is the best duo,

30:09 certainly in Bruins history. And I think we'll rank up there with now, do they have as many

30:16 cups as those other guys that I met, the Gretzky, Curry, Trottier, Bossy, Lemieux, Jagger? No,

30:20 they don't. They went to three Stanley cup finals. They won once. I think if they had managed to win

30:26 in 2019, we're probably talking about them like very close to all of those other pairings. And

30:33 I think they might be like a half. So one dud of a hockey game. What's that? One dud of a hockey

30:39 game. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, but it's a big one when it's game seven of the Stanley cup final,

30:44 that's not when you want to have a dud, right? No, no, you don't. On the other hand.

30:49 So like legacy wise, all the history unfolds the way it does and the fine lines are what they are.

30:56 So legacy wise, I think that's always going to be there when you talk about them as you know,

31:00 you wish they could have won one more together when they were all together as a group.

31:05 To solidify their place in history. I think the last year way more than 19, I didn't think they

31:10 were ever going to get near that cup. And so the fact that they made it as far as they did,

31:14 it was just incredible. You didn't, but like, as it was going on and you saw how wide open

31:19 things were after the first round that season, when all the big dogs were out, you're like,

31:23 it's right. And the authority with which they dispensed of the Carolina hurricanes.

31:28 Yeah. That was incredible. The way they were checking them up and down the ice in the third

31:32 period of that game to sweep that series. They looked, they looked, I mean, I, you know,

31:37 what really kills me the next year COVID shutting down the league and the Bruins had the president's

31:44 trophy wrapped up in March, early March. And, and the league has got another month to go and

31:51 the Bruins are a lock and what a response season by them. And, and it, it'll always annoy me

31:59 that the NHL decided, well, the players are probably complicit too, because it meant revenue

32:05 and it means 50%. And it means, you know, we get the league back going, but to call that the Stanley

32:11 cup for that season, it was as long a gap as a full off season, if not more. And the Bruins,

32:18 there's no way they would get near that, the cup that that's August, September. There's no chance

32:24 that they were going to be in that tournament with any real presence. And I agree. And, but

32:30 that was the Tampa Bay, right. They ended up, that was one of the ones they took advantage of. So

32:34 like, yeah, they did. They did. And, you know, and Dallas kind of announced themselves as a

32:39 contender at that point too. But again, it's, it's freaking beach hockey, you know, and our bubble

32:45 it's beach bubble blanket bingo. And it's in calling that the Stanley cup is just as embarrassing for

32:52 the sport, in my opinion. Yep. They were doing what they had to do to survive and get through

32:57 the times, but it was people, people complain about Kutcher off and long-term injury reserve.

33:01 I didn't have any problem with what Tampa, and I still think even though he led the

33:06 21 playoffs and scoring the lightning going to win that cup. Anyway, they were just the best team.

33:11 Nobody was close. Yeah, I agree. Regardless of the circumstances, I think they were going to win.

33:16 All right, Mick, thank you very much. Appreciate you joining us. I think we did, we will end on

33:23 Bergeron Marshan being one of the best duos in NHL history. Yeah, right. And I'm not going to

33:28 go to a number to it, but they're in, they belong in that conversation and, and they had the big

33:33 moments and their longevity was there. And it was just a, what a partnership who knew that it would

33:39 last as long as it did. Yeah. And they both should be hall of famers at the end of the day too. And

33:43 I think that's a no doubter once done with his career. Mick, thank you very much for joining us.

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35:18 Everybody, everybody out there. Thank you for listening. We'll see you at the rink.

A Tribute to Brad Marchand | Pucks With Haggs Podcast

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