Zdeno Hara is a Slovak ice hockey player playing as a defender. Despite the fact that he is more than forty years old, he still goes on the ice with the NHL Boston Bruins. Hara is considered the tallest NHL hockey player in history - his height is 206 centimeters.
First steps in sports and moving to Canada
Zdeno Hara was born on March 18, 1977 in the Czechoslovak SSR, in the city of Trencin. There is information that his father was a member of his country's Olympic wrestling team for some time. But at the same time, their family was not rich, money was often not enough.
Believe it or not, the children's coaches did not consider Zdeno to be promising. In the Dukla team in Trenchin, he played for two years not even in the main team, but in the second team. His outstanding growth, rather, hindered him, he lost to his peers in speed and technique.
Despite persistent training, he did not manage to get into the base of "Dukla". The situation changed only when he moved from Slovakian Trencin to Czech Prague. In the local club "Sparta" he played at a decent level, and Canadian specialists drew attention to him. Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, he was able to sign a contract with the Canadian club "Prince George Cougars", playing in the Western Junior Hockey League (WHL). But here a problem arose - Zdeno was supposed to be taken into the army of Slovakia, and, most likely, he would not have ended up in a special division for athletes (in order to be in such a division, it was necessary to pay a significant amount, which the Hara family did not have), but in usual.
Zdeno considered this unacceptable for himself and left for Canada. And he, in fact, did not have a way back - if he came back, he would simply be arrested and forcibly sent to the troops.
Further career
In Cougars as a player, Hara received little. And in order to earn more money for his family, Khara took two more jobs - as a mason's assistant and as a car washer at a gas station.
However, he soon moved from Cougars to the NHL New York Islanders. He first appeared on the ice with this club in the fall of 1997. And two years later, in 1999, he was already invited to the Croatian national team. In response, Zdeno set a condition: he should be given a military ID. They did not dare to refuse the talented hockey player - this is how he solved his problems with the Slovak army. In the future, Zdeno Hara played for the national team many times. And twice he even became the silver medalist of the World Championship as part of the national team - in 2000 and 2012.
He played for the New York Islanders (albeit intermittently) until 2001. And after that he moved to the Canadian club Ottawa Senators (more precisely, he was exchanged for the Russian hockey player Alexei Yashin). In the new club, Zdeno Hara began to noticeably add (among other things, he began to participate more often in attacking actions), his statistics became better and better. In 2003, he was already played in the NHL All-Star Game for the East team. And subsequently he took part in similar meetings five more times - in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2012.
As you know, on the night before each All-Star Game, so-called Super Skills are traditionally held. These are contests that aim to identify the best players in one way or another. Zdeno Hara distinguished himself here too - in 2012 he became the best in the competition for the power of the throw. The puck after his impact picked up a speed of 108, 8 miles per hour, and this record has not yet been broken by anyone.
In 2006, Zdeno Hara, unable to conclude a new agreement with the Ottawa Senators on acceptable terms, became a “free agent”. But the tall defender did not remain without the club for a long time. The next team he signed for five years was the Boston Bruins. And here he received not only a place in the main team, but also a captain's armband.
And it was with the club from Boston that the Hara won the main hockey trophy on the American continent - the Stanley Cup. It happened in 2011. In the same season, Hara scored a hat-trick for the first time in his career in a regular NHL championship match (the rival of the Boston Bruins in this case was the Carolina Hurricanes).
During a lockout (strike) in the NHL at the beginning of the 2012/13 season, Hara signed a contract with the Prague club Lev, playing in the Continental Hockey League. For this club, he played 25 games, during which he was able to score 4 goals. After the end of the lockout, Hara returned to the Boston Bruins, and plays in it to this day (and in total he has played more than 1,400 games in the NHL).
It should be noted that the Slovak hockey player is distinguished by a rather rough and tough game on the ice. And for this, of course, he often ends up on the penalty box. So, for example, in the 2000/2001 season, he in the New York Islanders managed to earn 157 penalty minutes in 82 matches.
One of the most famous examples of Hara's rough play is an episode that happened in an NHL game in March 2011. Then he injured the Montreal Canadiens hockey player Max Pacioretti. After a violent push on board, Pacioretti hit his head, suffered a concussion and as a result could not finish the match.
Personal life and interesting facts
On July 14, 2007, Hara married Tatiana Biskupikova in the Catholic Church in Nemšov (this is a city in Western Slovakia). It is known that before becoming husband and wife, Zdeno and Tatiana met for about ten years.
In April 2009, the couple had their first child - daughter Ellis Victoria. And in March 2016, Hara became the father of twin boys Zach and Ben.
In addition to hockey, Zdeno enjoys cycling. And in the city of Boston, where he now lives, he often moves not by car, but by bicycle.
His other hobby is extreme travel. For example, in 2008, Hara traveled to Africa. During this trip, he, along with the hockey player from Calgary Flames, Robin Regier, managed to climb the highest mountain on this continent - Kilimanjaro.
And finally, one more surprising fact about this wonderful hockey player: he knows as many as seven languages - Slovak, Czech, Russian, Swedish, English, German and Polish.
