from Matt Portre of the Boston Globe,

He was 25 and experiencing the morning of the most important day in hockey — a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final — for the first time.

But Patrice Bergeron had already been in the NHL for seven years. He had soaked in the knowledge of his linemate, two-time Cup winner Mark Recchi, in his 22nd season. Bergeron went in confident he could handle the rush of it all.

“Lots of emotion, and you’re excited,” he said Tuesday in front of his locker stall at TD Garden, thinking back to the day, June 15, 2011, when the Bruins last won it all. “Lots of nerves also. You try to manage it the right way and use it to your advantage.”...

Boston vs. St. Louis, Wednesday at TD Garden, is the first Game 7 in a Cup Final (and the first one ever in Boston) since that day eight years ago in Vancouver, when Bergeron and Marchand led the way, Tim Thomas was electric in net, and Chara, a fierce grin on his face and eyes shut in supreme bliss, grabbed the 35-pound trophy and shook it so hard over his head that his white “Stanley Cup Champions” cap fell off, and he nearly toppled over.

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