Patrice Bernier

Patrice Bernier (born September 23, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional soccer player. A long-time mainstay of the Canadian national team, the midfielder played the majority of his career with Montreal Impact in addition to playing in Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

Patrice Bernier
Bernier taking a penalty for the Montreal Impact in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth (1979-09-23) September 23, 1979
Place of birth Brossard, Quebec, Canada
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1998–1999 Syracuse Orange
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2002 Montreal Impact 73 (5)
2003–2004 Moss FK 40 (1)
2004–2007 Tromsø IL 68 (4)
2007–2008 1. FC Kaiserslautern 15 (1)
2008–2011 FC Nordsjælland 76 (3)
2011 Lyngby BK 12 (2)
2012–2017 Montreal Impact 152 (15)
Total 436 (31)
National team‡
1994–1995 Canada U17 9 (1)
1998 Canada U20 3 (1)
1999–2001 Canada U23 13 (0)
2004–2017 Canada 56 (2)
Teams managed
2018– Montreal Impact Academy (assistant)
2019– Montreal Impact (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 22, 2017
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of July 15, 2017

Club career

Bernier played for the original Montreal Impact in the A-league in Canada. For two seasons he played college soccer in the United States, for Syracuse University, in New York.[1] He has some background in hockey, but he was told he was too short to reach the top level.

He joined Norwegian side Moss F.K. to play alongside compatriot Rob Friend at the start of the 2003 season.

Tromsø
Bernier with Canada in 2010

Bernier signed for Tromsø IL in the summer of 2004. He was picked up from the Norwegian 1st division team Moss F.K. for somewhat less than 500,000 NOK (approx. €63,000 or $75,000 USD). As an almost complete midfielder, he is very aggressive, has good technique, a fine passing foot, heavy shot and an amazing running capacity. He has delivered the best stamina test result in the history of Tromsø, surpassing even former Tromsø player Morten Gamst Pedersen. After performing an amazing autumn season and a fine spring for Tromsø, they refused an offer of 10 million NOK (approx. €1.3 million) for him from the Turkish club Beşiktaş.

Bernier started the 2007 season as one of the Tippeliga's best players, scoring two fantastic goals against Norway's best soccer club the last 20 years, Rosenborg BK. Although Rosenborg went on to win the game with an injury time goal by Alexander Tettey, Bernier was awarded the "Man of the Match"-prize. Tromsø immediately offered Bernier a new contract. However, he rejected as he wanted to leave Norway for a better league. Tromsø then put forth an even better deal, but Bernier was determined to leave Tippeligaen.

Kaiserslautern

On May 28, 2007, Bernier left Tromsø for the German 2. Bundesliga club 1. FC Kaiserslautern, where former Vålerenga I.F. Fotball Kjetil Rekdal was the trainer.

Nordsjælland

On June 25, 2008, he signed a contract with Danish club FC Nordsjælland. On August 14, 2008, he scored the winning goal in the first leg of a UEFA Cup second qualifying round match versus Scottish club, Queen of the South of Dumfries.[2] Bernier scored the winning goal and his first goal of the 2010 season on November 14 in a 2–1 home win over Lyngby. He ended his season early in May against Copenhagen, following an early substitution it was revealed that he suffered a fracture in his fibula.[3] He played over 90 games in all competitions combined with FC Nordsjaelland, from the summer of 2008 until the summer of 2011, winning the Danish Cup in 2010 and 2011. He was voted Player of the Year in 2010 by the supporters of FC Nordsjaelland.[4]

Lyngby Boldklub

On August 24, 2011, Bernier signed a one-year contract with Lyngby Boldklub. He made his debut against his former club, in a 4–0 loss to FCN. On October 16, Bernier scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 loss to Silkeborg IF.[5]

Montreal Impact

On December 19, 2011, Bernier signed a contract to join Montreal Impact upon their entry at Major League Soccer in 2012.[6] He remained under contract with Lyngby Boldklub while they finished their season. However, he had an out clause that allowed him to leave without a transfer fee to the Impact.[7] Bernier scored his first goal for Montreal in a 2–0 away victory against Sporting Kansas City on May 5, 2012.[8] He was named MLS Player of the Week for Week 13–15 in the 2012 MLS. He was also named MLS Player of the Month for the month of August 2012. Under his captaincy, the Impact reached the CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015 and the MLS Eastern Conference final losing to Toronto FC in 2016. At age 38, he played the final match of his career on October 22, 2017 against the New England Revolution.[9]

International career

Bernier played at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Ecuador, alongside Brad Parker. They are the only ones of that squad to make it to the senior team.

He made his senior debut for Canada in a November 2003 friendly match against the Czech Republic. By December 2009, he earned a total of 43 caps, scoring two goals.[10] He reached 50 caps in a friendly against Jamaica on September 9, 2014.[11]

After a two-year absence, Bernier returned to the national team under Octavio Zambrano for a friendly against Curaçao on June 13, 2017.[12] The next month he captained Canada at the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup,[13] retiring from the national team after Canada's elimination in the quarter-finals to Jamaica.[14]

Personal life

Bernier was born in Brossard, Quebec, to Haitian parents.[15]

Bernier played two seasons of junior ice hockey in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). He spent parts of those seasons with Val-d'Or Foreurs where he would be teammates with future National Hockey League players Steve Bégin and Roberto Luongo, and the Sherbrooke Faucons. In 143 games, he amassed 17 goals and 73 points.[16]

Coaching career

In 2018, a few weeks after his retirement, it was announced that Bernier was named as a U13, U15, U17 and U19 assistant coach at the Montreal Impact Academy.[17]

Hockey career

He played two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a defender. In his first season in 1996-97. Val-d'Or players take part in the QMJHL playoffs and pass the second round before being eliminated in the division final by the Hull Olympics, future winners of the playoffs.[18] He begins the following season with Val-d'Or, but after about forty meetings, joins the Sherbrook Castors who did not qualify for the playoffs.[19] He decided to stop his hockey career following discussions with an agent telling him that his profile was not wanted by the National Hockey League teams.

Honours

Club
FC Nordsjælland[20]
Montreal Impact[20]

References
  1. "Patrice Bernier (1998-1999)". SUAthletics. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
  2. "Club History". Queen of the South. Archived from the original on September 13, 2009. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  3. Delia-Lavictoire, Yvan (May 19, 2011). "Patrice Bernier out of Gold Cup". Canadiansoccernews.com. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  4. "Patrice Bernier". Montreal Impact. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  5. Clarke, Ian (October 16, 2011). "Across the Pond - October 16, 2011". rednationonline.ca. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  6. "Quebec native Patrice Bernier returns to Montreal". Montreal Impact. December 19, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  7. Stein, Amanda (December 19, 2011). "Bernier still under contract with Denmark club but has an out-clause which allows Impact to sign him w/out transfer fees". twitter.com. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  8. Lee Rigg, Zac (May 5, 2012). "Sporting Kansas City 0-2 Montreal Impact: Expansion side surprises hosts". Goal.com. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
  9. Sabetti, Nick (October 21, 2017). "Q&A: Montreal Impact captain Patrice Bernier on his retirement". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  10. Mamrud, Roberto (February 29, 2012). "Canada - Record International Players". RSSSF. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  11. Molinaro, John (September 9, 2014). "Canada shines in 3-1 friendly win over Jamaica". sportsnet.ca. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  12. "Total of 14 MLS players called up by Canada for June 13 friendly vs Curacao". May 30, 2017.
  13. Molinaro, John (July 6, 2017). "Patrice Bernier's journey with Canadian team comes full circle".
  14. Platt, Oliver (July 20, 2017). "Canada 1-2 Jamaica: The Gold Cup dream ends in Arizona".
  15. "Patrice Bernier : D'Haïti en Afrique du Sud" (in French). CBC. January 20, 2010. Retrieved June 19, 2012.
  16. "Patrice Bernier hockey statistics and profile at". Hockeydb.com. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
  17. Rodriguez, Alicia (November 17, 2017). "Montreal Impact legend Patrice Bernier joins club's academy staff". mlssoccer.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  18. "1996-97 QMJHL Playoff Results at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  19. "1997-98 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League [QMJHL] standings at hockeydb.com". www.hockeydb.com. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
  20. "P. Bernier". Soccerway. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
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