BOSTON \u2014 Former Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara towered above every NHL skater he shared the ice with and Thursday night, his iconic number #33 will forever look down upon the TD Garden ice. <\/p>\n
Chara will become the 13th player in Bruins\u2019 history to get their jersey retired. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re headed to Causeway Street for the game tonight, the Bruins have a whole night of celebration planned for Big Z. <\/p>\n
Beginning just after 4:00 p.m., Chara\u2019s former teammates and Bruins alumni, including Patrice Bergeron, Ray Bourque, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Tim Thomas will walk the \u201cGold Carpet\u201d in front of the Garden. <\/p>\n
At 5:00 p.m., the doors to the Garden will finally open and fans are welcome to take their seats.<\/p>\n
The Bruins say that fans should be in their seats by 6:10, around 10 minutes before the jersey retirement is expected to begin. <\/p>\n
The ceremony will last around an hour, finishing at roughly 7:20 before pregame warmups begin. <\/p>\n
The Seattle Kraken and the Bruins will finally drop the puck at 8:00 p.m. <\/p>\n
The Slovakian won the Stanley Cup with the Bruins in 2011, becoming the first captain to bring a championship to Boston since 1972. He later appeared in two additional Stanley Cup Final series with the Bruins in 2013 and 2019. His impressive 14 Game 7 playoff appearances are also tied with Patrice Bergeron for the most by an NHL player.<\/p>\n
Chara first signed with Boston in July 2006 and served as team captain for the entirety of his 14-year stint with the Black-and-Gold, making him the second-longest tenured captain in club history behind Ray Bourque. In that time, he appeared in 1,023 career games with Boston, totaling 148 goals and 333 assists for 481 points.<\/p>\n
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