How Hockey Hall-of-Famer & Bruins Legend Zdeno Chara Rebuilt Boston’s Winning Culture

How Hockey Hall-of-Famer & Bruins Legend Zdeno Chara Rebuilt Boston’s Winning Culture

zedeno Charara grew up in Trenton Slovakia where his focus on hard work and self-improvement was instilled in him at a young age by his father zaden was the coach of Czechoslovakia’s wrestling team a very young age uh he he taught me a lot about the whole attitude of uh working out and and doing the extra work and prepare for every every battle and every game and uh so it was a huge impact from the moment he put on the black and gold the Bruins needed Charara to reestablish the culture of hard work and toughness not seen since the days of Cam Neely i’m willing to lead by my example of hard work dedication discipline and drive for a Bruins organization that hadn’t won a cup in over 30 years i think the only thing we care is the final goal and to win at the end we lacked a cornerstone again you know the opportunity to bring in Zedeno and his character and at that time was such an impactful player on both sides of the uh the equation the fact that Zado wanted to sign a free agent contract with the Boston Bruins oh Char I thought that spoke volumes of the man himself his desire his foresight and the message that he came to the organization with you know that changed everything it really did he was the type of person to build a team around his makeup his propensity to do anything he has to do whatever he has to do to to succeed and to be the best he possibly can be named captain on day one Charara restored the Bruins culture charara just body slams the rock founded on leadership and a strong work ethic char’s father it is well known was an Olympic wrestler that culture was broken down a little bit definitely was something that I took as a motivation and and set you know those goals not just for myself to do that and lead but for others as well sh his drive scores wow i held those expectations and standards very high once the culture was in place the winning followed char’s bomb score in 2009 Charara’s hard work led the Bruins to their first playoff series win in a decade last one to lead the Bell Center turn out the lights as he got a little bit more experienced the team got a little bit better too uh he realized that he could lean on others to help him but he was always the voice of wisdom battles really really hard shift by shift and wants to be better than his opponent it’s very impressive dongles commisar like a paper doll i just saw a guy that was a winner and a guy that was going to do whatever it was going to take to represent the city and do do all the things the right way and wants to prove people wrong ooara ties the game with the goalie p 13 years since he began his journey from Slovakia to become an NHL defenseman charara received affirmation that he didn’t just make it but he made himself into one of the best the 2009 Norris Trophy winner is Zado Char he’s certainly not your ordinary superstar he understands work ethic he understands the time you have to put in that’s that’s instilled in him you know Norris Trophy winner you know all those all stars and it’s a tribute to who he is as a person after 39 long years the Cup is back home in just his fifth season in Boston the captain delivered the cup to Causeway i remember him grabbing that cup and his knocking his hat off that thing’s 35 lb no way that was 35 lbs for him that looked like you know just a feather i thought he was going to throw the thing through the roof when he picked it up if he let go of it it might have went uh might have went flying it was such a satisfying moment and feeling what it really means when you when you actually win championship for the city and for the fans it’s to to really live that like with you charara played 14 seasons in a Bruins uniform and was a cherished member of the community i’m the giant buddy he’s been very well appreciated in this community because of uh what he does off the ice he was a fivetime allstar 8 point8 wow won two national awards and lifted the Stanley Cup but his legacy will be what he created it and what he left behind hard work pays off he’s the the cornerstone of our you know our team our success come on boys hey come on pick it up pick up come on he should be proud that he changed this culture and it wasn’t easy let’s go boys come on boys come on boys look at it now it’s you know arguably one of the best most successful franchises his legacy i mean for this organization there’s a lot of guys uh the Bobby or this world or Ray Bours that have left an imprint on this organization 1,000 games as captain of the Boston Bruins so Daniel is certainly the one of those guys that’s going to be linked with with some of those names [Applause] i don’t think Z will walk in anyone’s shadow in Boston sports history he’s an iconic figure now amongst all sports and and that’s a pretty special group to be part of and he shares that sh some of the games best players of their generation achieved glory while wearing the black and gold but it was the game’s greatest player with his sheer intensity that left his indelible mark on this franchise i spent 10 years here in Boston and they’re the 10 best years of my life [Applause] [Music]

Former Bruins Captain and HHOF inductee, Zdeno Chara, is one of the cornerstones of Boston’s franchise. He joined the Bruins in 2006 with a mission: to restore the team’s culture and bring the B’s back to championship contention. Watch to relive Big Z’s journey with the Bruins from his first skate on TD Garden ice, to lifting his first Stanley Cup.