Bernier relishing new role
It hasn’t been a whole lot of fun for Steve Bernier since he left Vancouver. Last year in Florida, where he ended up after his dispatch from the Vancouver Canucks in the Keith Ballard trade, he took a stick in the eye, missed six weeks and was never the same when he returned. He had the most dismal season of his career and when it was over his contract had run out, and the most he could scrounge up was a couple of two-way offers.
He decided not to take them, but rather accept an invitation to the New Jersey Devils training camp, where his Florida coach Pete Deboer had moved in the off season to be blessed and anointed by GM Lou Lamoriello.
Bernier was told to come, work hard and take his chances, which is what he did, and he was given what he had already turned down, another two-way offer, which was at that point the only game in town. He took it, and, as he knew he would be by the nature of the offer, was promptly dispatched to Albany of the AHL — where he again got hurt.
“I broke my thumb and at that point, after what I’d been through, it was very hard mentally,” said Bernier who will be 28 next month.
“I never thought about quitting because I love playing hockey too much, but that was a tough time and I had a lot of time to think.
“When I came back, things had changed a little up here, I played just two games and they called me up, and so far things have been going pretty good because the team has been winning, and when that happens everyone does well and enjoys it.”
Bernier hasn’t exactly put up big numbers, with just the one goal and three points in the 11 games since he got back to the NHL, but over that time the Devils have been solidifying themselves in a playoff position. And many believed that wouldn’t be happening, with this team coming to the end of the Marty Brodeur era.
Playing with Alexei Ponikarovsky and Dainius Zubrus, Bernier has been playing a different role than what coach Alain Vigneault wanted for him. He was given every conceivable opportunity to be on the first power-play unit upon arriving from Albany and given lots of offensive opportunities. In fact it bordered on the obsessive, the effort to make him a scorer.
In Jersey, nobody thinks offence, never have, which may be one reason why the league is running its finances. But we digress.
“They told me they don’t need me to score every night, just go out and play defence and take care of the little things, the little details that win games, and that’s what I’ve tried to do since getting here.
“But during this time I learned a few things about the game and myself, a few things I should have learned a long time ago. It’s not about what you’ve done in the game in the past, it’s what you’re going to do in your next game or your next shift.
“It doesn’t matter whether you scored two goals tonight because that’s now in the past and what’s important is what you’re going to do in the next game. It took me a long time to figure that out, I guess.”
Bernier is now a member of what might be the biggest line in the league, with three giants roaming around, and so far it’s been effective. Both he and Ponikarovsky have drawn public praise from their coach for their robust play.
“I’m not the biggest guy on my line for the first time in my life,” says Bernier, who plays comfortably around 225 although the Canucks tried to get him to play lighter to improve his quickness, to no avail. “We’ve been pretty effective but again, that doesn’t matter. It’s what we’re going to do in this next game.”
Obviously beating Vancouver tonight would feel pretty good to Bernier, although he could hardly claim to be surprised by the trade after having had so many opportunities without much success. Since leaving however, he’s learned a lot about himself.
“I learned you have to play just as hard as you can every game, to push myself. I learned there are times when you have to be way out of your comfort zone to succeed and that’s what I’m trying to do.”