Real Friends: Crosby, Bergeron setting tone for Canada at World Cup

Wiz Khalifa's We dem boyz was the track chosen by the Canadian players to be blasted on the Air Canada Centre sound system after each goal they score in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

The rap song was played six times in Canada's opening night 6-0 rout of the Czech Republic and either Sidney Crosby or Patrice Bergeron or both were responsible for the first four times the tune received air play on Saturday evening.

Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins captain, and Bergeron, the strong two-way Boston Bruins forward, have been Eastern Conference rivals for the past decade in the NHL. But when it comes to playing for Canada they go together like fish and chips.

That's why they're together again in this event. This time with Bruins speedster Brad Marchand. Bergeron, a natural centre, has been moved to the right side and the three played a big role in Canada starting off on the right skate.

Captain Crosby scored once and assisted on two others, while his linemate Bergeron chipped in a goal.

Crosby also set the tone for Canada's rout with an opening-minute breakaway that died in the catching hand of Czech goalie Michal Neuvirth and forced a turnover that led to Bergeron's buzzer-beating first period goal to give Canada a 3-0 lead. But there was no assist for No. 87 on that goal.

There also was no official helper for Bergeron after he won the faceoff that resulted in Marchand's deflection of Brent Burns point shot that Crosby tipped back to the Canadian defenceman for the 2-0 goal.

Brent Sutter deserves the credit.

Decade of friendship

A decade ago, when he coached the 2005 Canadian junior team, he saw two teenaged talents who skated well and thought the game even better. He had a hunch that Sidney Crosby and Patrice Bergeron would flourish on the same line.

So there was Crosby, two years and two weeks younger than his new friend, put together with Bergeron on the same line on the first day of the selection camp in Winnipeg in early December.

Something good came out of that cancelled 2004-05 NHL season because of the lockout. Bergeron would not have played in that world junior because he already had a season under his belt with the Bruins.

But there he was in Winnipeg and he enjoyed immediate chemistry with Crosby. They also became close friends off the ice as roommates and won gold together a month later in Grand Forks, N.D.

"I was 17 and he was 19," Crosby recalled. "It goes back a fair bit and we're familiar with each other.

"I think the fact that he's comfortable playing both positions and we can read off each other that way. He's a right-hand shot and I like to work off my forehand more. We play similar styles and we're comfortable reacting and reading off each other. We don't have to be too robotic."

Gold medals and championships have followed this pair around. Before he was a world junior standout, Bergeron won IIHF World Championship gold in 2004 with Mike Babcock as his head coach.

Crosby and Bergeron won Olympic gold together in Vancouver and Sochi. Crosby bookended a pair of Stanley Cups in 2008-09 and last spring with a 2015 world championship, while Bergeron won the 2010-11 Stanley Cup with the Bruins.

Now here they are together again, with a Canadian club that picked up where it left off from the Sochi Olympics and how it finished in Vancouver.

Canada has won 11 games in a row, dating back to a preliminary round loss to the United States in Vancouver, and hasn't allowed a goal since former Kelowna Rockets left wing Lauris Darzins scored for Latvia at the 15:41 mark of the first period in the quarter-finals in Sochi. That is more than 11 periods or 224 minutes, 19 seconds to be exact of shutout hockey from Canada and goalie Carey Price, who was good early on in the opener.

For this best-on-best event, Canada continues to employ its speed game with air-tight defensive discipline. Sure the North American rink is smaller and lends itself to a more physical game for Canada. But speed remains the key and that's a part of the game Bergeron and Crosby excel.

"As far as our speed goes, that's how we wanted to play there [in Sochi] and that's how we want to play here," Crosby said.