Jake DeBrusk played with plenty of NHL legends during his time with the Boston Bruins.
The 27-year-old forward played alongside Stanley Cup champions Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand, David Krejci, Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara and veterans David Backes, Nick Foligno and Rick Nash.
Of all the players DeBrusk has played with, one player truly intimidated the 6-foot-1, 198-pound Edmonton, Alberta native — 6-foot-9 Chara.
“Super calm demeanor. Like such a nice guy and I love Z, but at the beginning, you’re intimidated. You are straight up intimidated seeing Z for the first time,” DeBrusk recalled when he appeared on “The Cam & Strick Podcast” on Tuesday. “I remember the first time I saw him on the ice; it was even more intimidating. We had a one-on-one drill, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I don’t even know how to attack this guy right now.’ It’s like I never seen anything like (him) at the time, but you get used to it as time goes on.”
DeBrusk explained in his first training camp with the Bruins that the team was performing a drill where the defensemen would end up with the puck, and the forwards would drive to the front of the net looking for the tip. The then-first time DeBrusk was in a rush with Chara, he leaned away from the net because he didn’t know what to expect from the former captain’s shot.
After the drill, Chara told DeBrusk to stay on the ice and stand in front of the net after practice.
“He brought out like 15 pucks and started bombing shots and told me to stay there,” DeBrusk recalled. “I got a couple of pieces of a couple and stuff, but I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ And he started laughing at me at the end. That just goes to show what kind of guy he is, even in training camp practice.”
DeBrusk admitted he was scared standing in front of the net because he couldn’t read Chara’s shots but praised the legendary defenseman for teaching him a powerful lesson.
