Boston Bruins: Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand On Line With Sidney Crosby at World Cup of Hockey
Some familiar faces are set to play in the World Cup of Hockey tournament in a few days. While the Bruins have players spread across multiple rosters, two certainly stand out the most. Both Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand made the cut for Team Canada’s roster, and it doesn’t look like they’re going to be playing in a support role by any stretch of the imagination.
According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, both Bergeron and Marchand are skating alongside Canada’s captain and the most recent Conn Smythe winner, Sidney Crosby.
Canada lines: Marchand-Crosby-Bergeron, Tavares-Getzlaf-Stamkos, Couture-Toews-Seguin, Duchene-Giroux-Thornton. Perry rotating through
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 5, 2016
Any line that Sidney Crosby skates on is the defacto number one line. Skating alongside him is a testament to how good both Bergeron and Marchand truly are. The levels of experience playing with Canada to this degree vary between both Bergeron and Marchand, however.
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Bergeron has experience representing Canada on teams that have featured Crosby, John Tavares, Ryan Getzlaf, Jonathan Toews, and others. For Marchand, this is his first opportunity to do so, not to take away from his performance in the 2016 Ice Hockey World Championships.
A line with Crosby, Marchand, and Bergeron is certainly one that other teams will have trouble dealing with. This past season, those three players combined for 105 goals, 108 assists, and 213 points in 237 games. Each player scored over 30 goals and 60 points and are notable winners at the NHL level.
Sidney Crosby has played in three Stanley Cups Finals, winning the most recent two including last year’s honors. Bergeron and Marchand both won the 2011 Stanley Cup and competed for hockey’s top prize again in 2013. While the Bruins may have failed to qualify for the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, both Bergeron and Marchand still strive for excellence with every single shift.
The tournament should help prepare the Bruins top line for NHL action early on. Nothing prepares a player more than actual game time, and Bergeron and Marchand have the potential to show up and perform at a mid-season level from day one of the NHL regular season with this experience.
Next: Is Bergeron Prepared for the World Cup?
Cam Neely, Don Sweeney, and Claude Julien are all feeling the pressure of missing the playoffs last season. A well-prepared Bruins team will bode well for management and the team as they look to avoid missing the postseason for a third consecutive year. The clock is ticking down for the NHL regular season, and the World Cup is essentially a pre-preseason tournament that could help, more than hurt the Bruins.