If it was not evident on Monday night in Boston what winning and his teammates mean to him, let’s refresh your memory.

Patrice Bergeron suffered a broken rib, torn cartilage, and a separated shoulder. Not to mention a small hole in his lung and still gutted out 17:45 of ice time.

Bergeron is the straw that stirs the drink for the Black and Gold. He means so much to this team and his teammates knew this before his heroic efforts to try in force a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. He is one of the best three-zone hockey players in the NHL – if not the best – and also showed that he has the biggest heart.

“I didn’t really know 100 percent what was wrong with him,” said goalie Tuukka Rask at breakup day on Wednesday. “I know he was in a lot of pain and stuff but seeing him go out there and trying to battle through it like that with one lung I guess, I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s pretty amazing.”

Bergeron has been a significant piece of this team for quite a while now. In 2013 it was no different.

He finished the year with 10 goals and 22 assists in 42 regular season games while scoring nine times (two game-winners) and dishing off six more assists during the playoffs.

Bergeron does everything the right way. He is never in the media for any other reason besides post-game analysis. In fact, after the Bruins’ Game 6 loss to the Blackhawks, Bergeron performed his routine of talking to the media after the game when he should have been clearly in a hospital.

“I was talking to him this morning and last night and you can’t say enough about him,” forward Shawn Thornton said. “He’s an inspiration. He’s a man amongst boys, as far as the toughness goes. I think what he played through, I’m not sure how many guys could play through that, so it was pretty impressive. That’s for sure.”

The team knows Bergeron is the quiet leader of the Bruins. He is dedicated and will always sacrifice his body for the betterment of the team.

“He’s always putting the team first, but as I said a couple of days ago when I asked the question about myself, that’s playoff hockey,” said Gregory Campbell, who’s still recovering from a broken leg. “But the respect I have for Bergy and what he did and put himself through is tremendous.”

Forward Milan Lucic could not stop praising his teammate because he knows as much as everyone else in that locker room that Bergeron is the heart-beat of the Black and Gold.

“Playing through what he played through and his will to win is why he’s basically won every trophy a guy can win,” Lucic said. “That’s why he’s one of our main leaders in this hockey club. He’s shown how important of a player he is and it was pretty inspirational to see him suck it up and play Game 6 and I think that’s why we had such a great start.”

When asked what he was going through after the Game 6 defeat by the hands of the Blackhawks Patrice Bergeron genuinely responded, “I don’t like to do that tonight.”

“There’s not many words that can be said right now,” Bergeron said. “It’s definitely tough to lose, especially at this time and after everything we’ve been through. There’s not many words that can be said right now. It’s tough.”

Bergeron has been released from the hospital and is said to be doing okay. He is not the type of guy who will tell you how important he really is to this team, but his teammates will.

One can speculate that General Manager Peter Chiarelli will lock this warrior up with an eight-year extension pretty quickly because no one in the NHL symbolizes what it means to be a hockey player better than Patrice Bergeron.