Le Tigre has made its “mark” in ice hockey for the last 50 years, an intense adventure full of twists and turns that we narrate in the documentary series “Bergie” offered on Tuesday on Videotron’s Vrai platform.
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Dozens of friends and family members of the “coach” testify to his fighting spirit, his authenticity and the fact that he is and always will be a gangster in the three episodes.
Of all the testimonials, two stand out in particular: those of Mike Bossy and Guy Lafleur, who left us in quick succession. When the blond demon wishes Michel Bergeron good health, now 75, our hearts ache because the number 10 knew he had cancer.
“He was in full treatment to show his kindness. He wishes me health when he is very ill. Watching it gives me chills,” Mr Bergeron said, comparing Lafleur to another of his great friends, the late René Angelil, husband and impresario of Celine Dion. “They were of the same species, two real ones.”
Michel Bergeron says he was both nostalgic and touched that his TVA Sports colleague Louis Jean and Télégramme Média executive producer Éric Hébert, a big supporter of the Quebec Nordiques, came up with the idea of telling his life story.
Who doesn’t remember when Bergeron climbed onto the boards and clung to the bay windows to regally berate the umpires? “Sometimes it wasn’t planned, it was stronger than me,” said M Bergeron, admitting to being a “huge uncertainty” who “lived at 100mph”.
Anyhow, it was still a good show, even if what was said in Bergeron’s angry moments was not to be repeated and all that passion may have eroded his health, up until his heart attack aged 44 in 1990 .
Produced by Félix St-Jacques, the series allows us to relive the highlights of Tiger’s career, including his departure for the Big Apple. It is full of interesting information, anecdotes and archival images that, among other things, make us relive the rivalry between Montreal and Quebec.
Even if we go from his childhood to adult life, ice hockey became a living for Michel Bergeron in 1974 while he was behind the bench of the Draveurs de Trois-Rivières. The players who didn’t want him at first eventually accepted him, and the team won the QMJHL President’s Cup twice, in 1978 and 1979, just before the Quebec Nordiques “drafted” him. He will remain at the helm of the Nordiques intermittently for eight seasons as he will also be the New York Rangers “coach” between his two tenures in the old capital.
A betrayal for Quebec
In Quebec he was at the heart of the war with the Montreal Canadiens. “The rivalry between the two teams started when we beat the Canadian in 1982,” Mr Bergeron said of Dale Hunter’s goal that sent the CH on vacation in overtime in Game 5 of the Adams Division semifinals. “We really hated each other, it’s not like today when the world is ‘chummy.'” He believes such a rivalry would be impossible today even if the Nordiques were revived at the Videotron Center.
“It would be impossible for it to get that intense because there aren’t many Quebecers left on the teams and behind the bench,” said Mr Bergeron, who said he was “sad” about the situation and admitted he still is tut couldn’t digest the Nordiques moving to Colorado.
“The people of Quebec have been victims of betrayal,” he said. This team was about to win the Stanley Cup, and in order to make money, they decided to go to Colorado. It’s horrible. It was the betrayal of the 90s.
Michel Bergeron, who says he is in great form, is preparing to renegotiate his analysis contract at TVA Sports.
The Bergie documentary series is available on Vrai starting Tuesday.