Former Bruins captain Zdeno Chara raises $25K for charity during Boston Marathon

Here’s how he did it.

At the 2024 Boston Marathon, Zdeno Chara, former captain for the NHL’s Boston Bruins, beat his personal record while raising money for charity.

Chara, now 47 years old, spent 24 seasons in the NHL. Since retiring on September 20, 2022, Chara has stayed active by running in events like the Watuppa Trail Races, the Baystate Marathon, and the 128th Boston Marathon. This year, Chara finished the Boston Marathon with a final time of 03:30:52, shaving nearly eight minutes off his 2023 finish time of 3:38:23.

Both years, Chara ran in support of the The Hoyt Foundation, a non-profit group that “aspires to build the individual character, self-confidence and self-esteem of America’s disabled young people through inclusion in all facets of daily life.” During Chara’s 2024 Boston Marathon run, he raised over $25,000 for the organization.

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“They were such iconic figures,” Chara said of the late Rick and Dick Hoyt while speaking to The Boston Globe, “living legends that have done so much for the community.”

On Instagram, the Boston Bruins celebrated Chara’s performance. As current Bruins captain Brad Marchand commented in an NHL.com article, he was “not really surprised” about Chara’s active post-NHL schedule. “You knew [Chara] was going to find something really competitive, very hard,” Marchand said. “Something that takes a lot of training, something he can improve upon. He’s just a beast. He likes the challenge.”

So, what’s next for Chara? Boston.com writer Conor Ryan reports that Chara will soon be off to England for the London Marathon on April 21.

“It’s great for him,” Marchand said. “I’m happy to see him happy and enjoying something after hockey. He dedicated so much time and effort to the game, it’s great that he has another passion that he’s enjoying.”

Read more about the athletes and celebrities who showed up to the 2024 Boston Marathon here.

NHL fans saluted P.K. Subban, Zdeno Chara, and Keith Yandle after the defensemen announced their retirements

A trio of powerhouse NHL defenseman all retired on Tuesday.

The NHL’s defensive landscape is going to look quite different for the 2022-23 season and beyond.

On Tuesday, P.K. Subban, Zdeno Chara, and Keith Yandle all announced their retirements from the sport of hockey. Through either a strange stroke of fate or a coordinated effort, hockey fans were quite surprised to see all three announce their retirements before 10 a.m. on a weekday morning.

Subban, Chara, and Yandle played a combined 3,977 NHL games (playoffs included) stretching back to 1997-98, when Chara played his rookie season with the New York Islanders. The three have accolades to spare, with Subban and Chara each winning a Norris Trophy in their careers while Yandle, as of September, is the NHL’s current Iron Man, having played the most consecutive games (989) in league history.

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Times certainly are changing when three pillars of the NHL’s defensive corps all retire on the same day! Hockey fans made sure to salute Subban, Chara, and Yandle for their illustrious careers on social media after the announcements were made.