Congratulations Big Zee “I Had to Create Something”

Congratulations Zdeno Chara, Big Zee, who had his No. 33 retired to the rafters of the Garden last night taking its place with other legends Ray Bourque (77), Terry O’Reilly (24), Willie O’Ree (22), Rick Middleton (16), John Bucyk (9), Cam Neely (8), and Bobby Orr (4). It was quite the night for the 6’9” Hall of Fame defensemen, who was joined by his family and several members of the 2011 Stanley Cup Champion team.

Kevin Paul Dupont of The Boston Globe writes:

Late in the presser, Chara offered interesting insight into what drove him game after game to be the best version of himself.

Part of it, he noted, was his motivation to prove people wrong. He carried that with him from his childhood days in Trencin, Slovakia, when his dream to play in the NHL was constantly muted, if not belittled, by those who thought he was too big and not skilled enough to be a hockey player.

“I grew up with that,” he said. “I had to prove myself.”

There was also a fear factor to it all — not a fear to play and not a fear of the challenge of opposing the best players in the league night after night. Instead, the fear that drove the guy who put No. 33 in the rafters was that of not living up to a standard of excellence he set for himself.

“Once I got to be in the league, I had to create something,” mused Chara. “I had to be pushing myself and had that ‘why?’ every day, every night, because if I didn’t, I would get exposed. If you don’t have that, you are not going to survive. And I just had that every single night that whatever I faced, I created that fear for myself not to … I was not afraid, but I was also feeling like, OK, I need to be my best.”