‘It just fuelled us’: Zdeno Chara claims Vancouver Canucks players practiced a Stanley Cup celebration during 2011 Final

Longtime Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara appeared on the “Games With Names” show with Julian Edelman and Sam Morril earlier this week to discuss his career — and, specifically, the Bruins’ fiery Stanley Cup Final against the Vancouver Canucks in 2011.

On the show, Chara alleged that the Bruins saw members of the 2011 Canucks practicing how they would celebrate with the Stanley Cup on the ice at TD Garden in Boston during the series.

Here’s what Chara had to say:

“We saw players from Vancouver coming on the ice in the Garden and they were actually practicing how they would be lifting the Cup and handing off the Cup to each other,” Chara said. “We found out about these things and we were like, f*** this, we were not going to allow this to happen.

“You know, it just fuelled us.”

Chara and the Bruins defeated the Canucks in seven games to capture the Stanley Cup that spring. It remains the Bruins’ only championship since 1972.

Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek subsequently reached out to ex-Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa, who signed a one-day contract to retire with the team earlier this year, with questions about the veracity of Chara’s claims.

“Never happened…..100% didn’t happen,” Bieksa told Marek.

More than 11 years later, the story of the Bruins/Canucks Stanley Cup Final still lives on. The two teams met in Boston last month, with the Bruins winning by a 5–2 score; they’ll wrap up the season series in Vancouver on Feb. 25.