Bond of 2011 Bruins Still on Full Display | Boston Bruins

When the 2011 team arrived at the ceremony, they did so aboard a gold duck boat, before being introduced one by one to the TD Garden crowd. Zdeno Chara was last, picking up the Stanley Cup from keeper of the Cup Phil Pritchard on his way to the ice.

“It’s a super special night,” said Chara, the B’s captain from 2006-20. “Some of them I haven’t seen for for a long time, so it’s nice to kind of revisit and pend some time together and talk about their lives and the adjustments and all the stuff that we went through, I guess, since we stopped playing hockey…it’s a special event. Special to see, everyone. We’ve been through a lot and we have some very special memories together. Those are always great moments.”

When Chara reached the ice, he joined Julien, assistant coach Doug Jarvis, Daniel Paille, Andrew Ference, Shawn Thornton, Chris Kelly, Tim Thomas, Shane Hnidy, Tuukka Rask, Dennis Seidenberg, David Krejci, Steven Kampfer, Johnny Boychuk, Jordan Caron, Adam McQuaid, Michael Ryder, and Marchand.

“It’s great. Just to see the guys and get together and come back and be a part of this is really nice,” said Ryder. “I haven’t seen guys in a long time, and just to catch up is great. It’s good to be a part of it.

“We were a pretty tight-knit team, and we stood up for each other. We just played for each other. It was just a great experience, and didn’t think we’d get there, but we just kept pushing and pushing and stayed together as a team. All the ups and downs build that character.”

And it builds a bond, one that still lives on 13 years later.

“We still have a group chat going, we all stay in touch,” said Shawn Thornton. “There’s nothing like being able to accomplish something like winning a Stanley Cup. That bond never goes away.

“The way that everyone bought into the common goal and playing the same way and the focus was on winning a Cup and being happier for your teammate to have success more than your individual success. I think you look around, all the guys are still in shape. Everyone’s a hard-working individual…skill level didn’t matter, everyone was for the common goal and get it done.

“[Ten-plus] years later, everyone’s still got that mentality of being happy for each other.”

That camaraderie was evident as the current iteration of the Black & Gold was able to spend a bit of time with the former Bruins over the course of the day.

“It was just great to see so many of those guys around, and happy to be back in Boston,” said coach Jim Montgomery. “You can tell that when you win a Stanley Cup together, there’s a special bond. You could tell that with that group. It’s nice for our players to see it.”