Goalies always geared up for Christmas

VANCOUVER -- Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price insists he wasn't snooping for presents, but when it comes to his most memorable hockey-related Christmas gift, he admits to finding it before Dec. 25.
It was a set of red Vaughn pads that he first saw over the summer in Penticton, British Columbia.

"I got pretty excited about a few sets of equipment growing up, but I remember seeing these red pads] at the Okanagan Hockey School in the sport shop across the street from the old arena there, and lo and behold I found them four months later," Price said. "I was just rooting around under a stairwell [at my house] and I found them buried in a hockey bag. I wasn't looking for presents, I swear."
Price laughed as he said it, perhaps knowing how unlikely it sounded that an 11-year-old wouldn't be searching out presents before Christmas. When it comes to the strong bond between many goaltenders and their equipment, it sounds even less convincing.
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"Most goalies have that," Price said. "It's our lifeline, really, if you think about it."
The uniqueness of the equipment has fueled passion for the position of many young goalies. For several of them, it was cemented by a memorable present at Christmas.
"Oh yeah, it was always one piece of equipment," Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne said. "It was never a full set, but I remember my parents would wrap a single stick in Christmas paper and then one year I remember getting a white mask and Christmas night I would always sleep with my new gear.
"We are so fortunate nowadays in the NHL that we get new gear whenever we want, but it's still pretty cool and I still get excited about new gear."

Predators goalie Juuse Saros said he is the same way when it comes to goaltending equipment, and he got his first hockey gloves for Christmas when he was 8.
"It was a set of Sherwood gloves, my first piece of equipment growing up," Saros said. "I played other sports growing up too, but that was probably one of the biggest reasons I wanted to play goal: I thought all the gear was so cool."
San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones remembers getting pads when he was 10.
"My first set of pads was under the tree, a total surprise" Jones said. "I was using district gear, so it was exciting to get my own set. Pretty sure I didn't sleep with them, but I was excited."
Vancouver Canucks goalie Anders Nilsson never had to worry about pads and gloves growing up in Lulea, Sweden, because, like Jones, the local youth teams provided them. He liked it when his parents wrapped a new stick because it was easy to spot under the tree on Christmas morning, but the best gift was a painted goalie mask he got when he was 12.
"It had a green snake head, my first painted helmet," Nilsson said. "There weren't that many guys that had a painted helmet back then. As a young goalie, you are always excited for new gear, but that was something special."

The memories certainly aren't limited to current goalies.
Canucks goaltending coach Dan Cloutier remembers his favorite gift being a set of red, white and blue DR pads -- "Montreal colors," he said -- at the age of 12.
San Jose goaltending coach Johan Hedberg still owns his favorite present.
"I was the youngest of three brothers so I was forced to play net, but gear obviously became a big part of being a goalie," said Hedberg, from Leksand, Sweden. "I remember one Christmas I got a new catching glove, which is my favorite glove of all time. It was an old CCM glove, it looked like a baseball glove, and it was awesome. It still sits in my attic back home in Sweden."
Hedberg said he was 8 or 9 when he got the glove, and he wore it until he was 13.
"I played with it for way too long," he said. "My hand outgrew it, went right through the stitching at the end of the fingers. Goalie gear is exciting, it's fun. When new stuff comes out on the market, I think every goalie gets excited and I am one of them."
Combine that with the excitement of Christmas, and it's not surprising so many NHL goalies have a favorite gift memory that stands out.