Both of them self-confessed superfans of the Vancouver Canucks growing up in these parts, Johansen and Sissons remember watching childhood heroes like Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden and Daniel and Henrik Sedin, dreaming one day they could skate on the same ice.
While those idols have all seen their final NHL shift, Johansen and Sissons still get the chance to play in that very building where they once sat on the other side of the glass.
"It's just a surreal thing," Johansen said. "You've got to pinch yourself every time you come back home and play. It just feels like such a dream, and obviously we're established players now, but you still feel like a little kid getting off the plane. You feel like you're just flying home, you don't feel like you're going to play in the arena that you grew up following your idols and watching your heroes."
Johansen lists his first NHL game in Vancouver as one of the "top 5 coolest moments" of his career. It's up there for Sissons, too, but he doesn't remember as much of his first professional foray into Rogers Arena as he would've liked.
"My first game I played in Vancouver, I ended up getting food poisoning on game day and I didn't tell anybody," Sissons laughed. "I didn't eat anything all day, I had like a banana before the game and I don't remember the game at all. I was in such bad shape. I saw my family after and they were like, "Oh my gosh, you look like death.' I'm like, 'Yeah I know, you should imagine how I feel right now.'
"But I wasn't going to miss that one, I'll tell you that."