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Sean Monahan — “A snowboard. I think I was about eight or nine and I kind of took off with it. Something I did all the time, just at this hill pretty close to our house in Brampton and I’d go there all the time with my buddies. I didn’t know what I was getting and it was kind of hidden behind everything. My dad hid it in the ceiling tiles because I’d always look around trying to find all my gifts before Christmas. He did a good job of it. When I opened it, I was pretty happy.”

Markus Granlund — “I haven’t spent too many Christmases at home. I’ve been playing hockey here (in North America) and, when I was back in Finland, we had the world juniors at Christmas so I wasn’t home. My parents stayed home and watch — but I have good memories when I was younger. It was fun.”

Mikael Backlund — “My first hockey gloves. I slept with them all night. I was pretty excited about it, I was pretty young. I’ve seen photos of it too — me sleeping with my soother in my mouth and my hockey gloves on. My mom usually brings that story up.”

Brandon Bollig — “Lately, my niece and nephew always make me homemade gifts. Like a photo frame or a painting. Nowadays, those are the cool things for me. Growing up, obviously it was the coolest toy or the newest hockey skates or whatever it was that every young hockey player looked forward too. Now, it’s the homemade stuff and the stuff I tend to keep forever and cherish.”

Joe Colborne — “My first composite stick. Those ‘Z’ Bubbles or whatever, the first ones that came out. My buddies always had them but my dad was always like, ‘Nope, use a wood stick.’ I wanted one so bad! I think I had to get to a certain amount of goals to get it but I would have had to wait until the end of the year to score that many goals. I wasn’t expecting it, but I came down Christmas morning and I was just so pumped. I wanted to get out there out on the outdoor rink and feel like one of the guys and didn’t get teased for using wood sticks anymore. I was pumped.”