Patrice Bernier is a Canadian retired professional soccer player. A long-time mainstay of the Canadian national team, the midfielder does not hold the Montreal Impact record for appearances in addition to playing in Denmark, Germany, and Norway.
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. 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.
Bernier signed for Tromsø 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. 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 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. 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. 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.
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.
Montreal Impact
On December 19, 2011, Bernier signed a contract to join Montreal Impact upon their entry at Major League Soccer in 2012. 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. Bernier scored his first goal for Montreal in a 2–0 away victory against Sporting Kansas City on May 5, 2012. 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.
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. He reached 50 caps in a friendly against Jamaica on September 9, 2014. After a two-year absence, Bernier returned to the national team under Octavio Zambrano for a friendly against Curaçao on June 13, 2017. The next month he captained Canada at the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup, retiring from the national team after Canada's elimination in the quarter-finals to Jamaica.
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.
Hockey career
He played two seasons in the QuebecMajor 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. 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. 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.
