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Sharing Christmas Memories

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By ERIK ERLENDSSON

eerlendsson@tampatrib.com

Published: December 25, 2008

TAMPA - Across North America this morning, in particular the northern regions, burgeoning hockey players will look under a Christmas tree and see dozens of presents waiting to be opened.

A pair of skates might rest inside a box. Or it might be a one-piece composite stick that some young player wrote down on his wish list. Perhaps even some stick tape, a helmet, a few pucks or shoulder pads will be placed under the tree.

Those gifts are the norm instead of the exception for hockey players. Certainly there were other gifts that stood out for some of today's pros when they were growing up.

Maybe it was that Strat-O-Matic hockey game, a set of hockey cards with Wayne Gretzky on the package's cover or the hottest video game on the market at the time. There might have been some other piece of equipment meant for playing in winter weather.

The Tribune queried some of the Lightning players to find out what was their most memorable Christmas present, not including any form of hockey equipment. Here is a sampling of what they remember sitting under the tree (or outside the garage) when they awoke Christmas morning as a child.

D Paul Ranger - "When I was about 6 years old, all my friends had the original hockey game for Nintendo, so that's what I wanted. There were like three types of players. There was the fat, slow guy who had the booming shot; there was the medium-sized guy who could do everything well; and then there was the skinny guy who was faster than everybody else. I played that game all day when I got it. It was great."

LW Ryan Malone - "My most memorable gift was a Ron Francis hockey jersey, because he was may favorite player when I was living in Pittsburgh at the time."

C Steven Stamkos - "That's a tough one, because the one-piece sticks were the big thing for me. But other than that, it probably has to be the Wendel Clark autographed, framed picture that is still hanging in my bedroom today."

LW Vinny Prospal - "Wow, I have to think about that. ... Probably a gold necklace with a pendant that was a hockey player."

C Paul Szczechura - "That's a good question. I got so many hockey things when I was young, but it probably would have to be the Don Cherry Rock'em Sock'em videos that I would get every year. There were new ones that came out and I would watch them every year."

G Mike Smith - "When I was young, we would get a lot of stuff that we could play with in the snow, but one time we got a used snowmobile. I think it was a Yamaha Bravo 200 when I was about 10 or 12 years old and we took it out in the yard on Christmas Day and took it for a spin."

LW Jussi Jokinen - "I was about 7 or 8 years old and I got one of the old Nintendo systems from my godmother. That was a big deal for me then, so it was a pretty cool gift."

RW Adam Hall - "I got a Nintendo system when I was about 8 or 9 years old and it was great for me, my brother and sister because it was the one thing we all wanted. It had the old Duck Hunt and Mario Brothers. The one thing our mom might have regretted was getting track and field with it, because it came with this pad so we were jumping up and down on that pad stomping in the living room and shaking the walls all day long."

C Vinny Lecavalier - "Wow. I wanted to say my blue Easton gloves, but since I can't, it would probably be a painting of Italy my parents gave me a couple of years ago for my house. It's a great big painting on my wall. I love it."

Reporter Erik Erlendsson can be reached at (813) 259-7835.

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