NHL teams
Joe McDonald, ESPN Staff Writer 8y

Zdeno Chara's unique character makes him special to league

NHL, Boston Bruins

BOSTON -- In the mood to compete a few summers ago, Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara decided to ride his bicycle for seven hours and 200 miles through the vast Czech Republic terrain.

"You know you're going on a 200-miler and you know it's going to be long, it's going to be painful and you're going to sacrifice a lot. You have to be willing to sacrifice, willing to enjoy the pain," Chara said. "You've got to love it and there's only one way to describe it: You've got to enjoy the pain and the sacrifices that go with it."

An avid cyclist, the 6-foot-9, 255-pound defenseman believes a bike race mirrors life. A native of Slovakia, Chara has bikes stored all over the world in case he wants to ride. He has biked stages of the Tour de France and believes cycling and hockey are similar.

"It's one of those things, like in sports and other situations in life, you're going to have some adversities and some challenges that are similar to the race," he said. "You go uphill one moment and then you go downhill, but that's life too. You've got to be willing to sometimes take it slow but keep going. A lot of times life is spinning so fast around you that you kind of think it's out of control and that's when you need to slow down a little bit and take a break. It's similar to a life situation."

Chara is no doubt a unique person. The 2015-16 season is his 18th in the NHL, a career in which he's won a Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman (2008-09) and a Stanley Cup championship in 2011.

Off the ice, he's become a sounding board for the NHL and the NHL Players' Association. Chara's background, experiences and the fact that he speaks eight languages are only a few reasons why he's become invaluable to the game.

"You have an individual who is an extraordinary player, who happens to be an extraordinary individual who radiates confidence, who radiates success, who radiates class, and he's the kind of individual who is held in high esteem by management people, by the coaches and certainly by the players, and of course, by the fans," said Donald Fehr, the executive director of the NHLPA. "There aren't a whole lot of these people about whom you can say that."

The NHL and NHLPA reached out to Chara last season for his opinion on the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The eight-team, two-week international tournament returns in September 2016 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Since every country won't be represented, it was decided to have a roster of European players to compete in the tournament.

With that decision come a lot of unknowns, including which anthem would be played and what logo would be used, so the league wanted to hear Chara's take on the situation.

"It's obviously nice to hear from someone who is asking your opinion, and they respect you," Chara said. "I would probably do the same thing and communicate with a number of players, and people around hockey, to try to make the right decisions on certain things. It's always an honor when you have people trying to pick your brain and ask your opinions. I like being that. I've always been one of those guys that likes to think."

On a daily basis with the Bruins, Chara is very guarded and protective with his comments.

Bruins team president Cam Neely described Chara perfectly: "Quiet ambassador. He's a great ambassador for the game. He's well respected. He's well spoken. He cares a lot about the game. He knows the history of the game.

"It really is an honor to be a captain of an Original Six team. It's not just what you do on the ice, it's what you do off the ice, it's what you do in the community, it's how you bring your team together. It's what you do with your teammates. It's all those things that make a great captain. It's competing night after night. It's being the hardest worker so people will follow."

While Chara is open and engaging in general conversation, he is deliberate with his thoughts when it comes to important issues.

"First of all, he's very intelligent and he's also extraordinarily perceptive," Fehr said. "When you talk to him you can almost see, obviously this is an exaggeration, but you can see the thoughtfulness and the deliberation and the care that he puts into thinking through any question that you give him that's important and coming up with the answers. He doesn't speak generally off the cuff and he doesn't speak without considering what he has to say."

Chara is in the fifth year of a seven-year deal with the Bruins and, while the 38-year-old wants to play into his 40s, there will come a time in the near future when he will hang up his skates. But that doesn't mean he will walk away from the game.

Given his dedication, motivation and desire to compete, Chara will have a wide range of choices in his post-playing days.

"A great leader doesn't want to have followers. A great leader wants to make other great leaders," Neely said. "Zee has done a good job of that."

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