Zdeno Chara’s Instagram Tribute To All-Star Brad Marchand Is Delightful

Brad Marchand didn’t have many supporters in Tampa during NHL All-Star Weekend. But he has one (very large) booster in teammate Zdeno Chara.

The Boston Bruins captain and veteran defenseman took to Instagram on Monday to show some serious love for Marchand — the team’s lone representative at the All-Star festivities — with a touching post.

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Chara recalled the moment he first saw Marchand: At the 2008 World Junior Championships, when the young winger was lighting up the competition to help lift Team Canada to a gold medal. Chara also revealed his hilarious exchange with John Whitesides, the Bruins’ strength and conditioning coach at the time, who confirmed that, yes, Marchand was under contract with Boston.

The rest, of course, is history: Chara and Marchand have been teammates for eight-plus seasons, bringing a Stanley Cup title to Boston during Marchand’s first full NHL campaign in 2010-11. And it’s clear the big Slovakian still appreciates that fiesty Canadian forward he saw on TV a decade ago.