TORONTO – Zdeno Chara could hardly believe what just happened.
Duncan Keith was in the same boat—at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.
Chara and his Boston Bruins led 2-1 at the end of Game 6 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final against Keith and the Chicago Blackhawks. A win on home ice would set up a winner-take-all final in the Windy City.
Then this scenario changed dramatically. The visitors scored twice in a stunning 17-second span to stun the Bruins 3-2 and capture the Blackhawks' second Cup in four years.
“It was a shock to us,” Chara recalled more than a decade later. “This is sport, this is life.”
Keith, meanwhile, had been dreading a tense Game 7 just minutes earlier.
“It’s never over until it’s over,” he said. “Especially doing it against such a good team.”
Chara and Keith, two outstanding defensemen with distinguished NHL and national team careers, will share a special moment together on Monday when they are inducted into the 2025 Hockey Hall of Fame class.
“It makes you think,” Keith said Saturday after rings and jackets were handed out to inductees. “It’s a long journey and a lot of people have helped me.”
The pair will be inducted along with former players Joe Thornton, Alexander Mogilny, Jennifer Botterill and Brianna Decker. Jack Parker and Daniel Sauvageau will star as builders.
“Loved every minute,” Thornton said of his 24-season NHL career. “I started at 18 and finished at 42. I was very, very lucky.”
Chara, 48, was drafted by the New York Islanders in 1996 and traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2001, but his career took off after signing with Boston.
The six-foot-nine blueliner from Trencin, Slovakia, played 14 seasons for the club – all as captain – from 2006 to 2020. The Bruins won the Cup in 2011 and reached the finals two more times.
The second European captain to lift the Holy Grail of hockey, Chara also competed in three Olympic Games and seven World Championships. He was a six-time All-Star and won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in 2009.
Chara, the highest player to ever play in the league, scored 680 points in 1,680 regular season games. He scored 70 points in 200 postseason contests.
Keith played 16 seasons with Chicago after making his debut in 2005, winning the Cup in 2010, 2013 and 2015 and being a four-time All-Star.
The 42-year-old Winnipeg native won Olympic gold for Canada in 2010 and 2014, was a two-time Norris Trophy contender and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2015.
Keith was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in 2021, played one more season and finished with 646 points in 1,256 games. He scored 91 points in 151 playoff games.
Thornton was Boston's first overall pick in the 1997 draft and captained the team from 2002 until he was traded to the San Jose Sharks in 2005. The 46-year-old from St. Thomas, Ontario, who also played for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers to finish his career, spent 14 seasons in California.
He led the NHL in scoring and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in the 2005–06 season. Thornton, only the third player to lead the league in assists three straight seasons, led San Jose in scoring eight times, including five straight campaigns, and helped the Sharks reach the 2016 finals.
Thornton, who won Olympic gold in 2010, scored 1,539 points in 1,714 regular-season games, ranking 12th all-time in scoring, seventh in assists and sixth in games played. He scored 134 points in 187 playoff games.
Mogilny, who is not taking part in the hall celebrations, defected to the United States in 1988 and set career highs with 76 goals and 127 points for the Buffalo Sabers in the 1991-92 season, the best ever by a Soviet-Russian player.
The 56-year-old won the Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2000 and also played for the Leafs and Vancouver Canucks, scoring 1,032 points in 990 regular-season games. He scored 86 points in 124 playoff games.
Botterill competed for Canada in four Olympic Games, winning three gold medals and one silver. She has five podium appearances and three World Championship runner-up finishes, including winning the MVP award in 2001.
“Throughout my playing career, I’ve been so lucky to be surrounded by great people,” said the 46-year-old from Winnipeg, who now works in television. “It was a chance to reflect with them.”
Sauvageau has competed in six Olympic Games, either as a bench player or as manager of Team Canada, most notably when the country won gold in 2002. Sauvageau's extensive resume includes her current position as general manager of the Montreal Victoire of the Women's Professional Hockey League.
“I don’t think I realize it yet,” said the 63-year-old pioneer from Montreal, the building’s first female builder. “When I put the ring on, it’s a little big, and the first reaction is: there’s still a lot to be done because (the game) has to evolve.”
Decker won gold at the 2018 Olympics for the United States and also has two silver medals. The 34-year-old striker from Dausman, Wis., has earned gold at the world championships six times and finished second twice.
Parker was the head coach of the Boston University men's program from 1973 to 2013. A three-time national champion, the 80-year-old from Somerville, Massachusetts, was also a three-time NCAA Coach of the Year.
“It's hard to put it into words,” Chara said when asked to look back on his career. “You go down roads that aren't always smooth and aren't always fun, but you just have to stay with it and have faith and have hope and dreams.
“And keep chasing them.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2025.
