The festivities began at BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena, where invited children and their families took the ice for skating and photo opportunities with a holiday-themed Zamboni.
"The main thing is to play hockey," Husso said. "But then outside of hockey, doing all of this stuff is nice to see. Helping families while being together is just a good time."
On the club level of BELFOR Training Center, children enjoyed arts and crafts, a hot chocolate machine and a Christmas cookie decorating station.
"I tried to do as much as possible in St. Louis too," Sundqvist said. "Being here and being part of all of this is awesome."
Supported by donations from Red Wings and Tigers current players and alumni, children received a gift purchased from Meijer. They also were given a bat and ball set and a mini hockey set on behalf of the Red Wings and Tigers organizations. Families of the invited children in attendance received a gift basket full of household items.
"It's awesome to see the looks on the kids' faces when they get their gifts," Sundqvist said. "It makes your whole year, basically."
The ninth Hometown Holiday Assist concluded with a special buffet dinner for guests at Comerica Park.
"The Red Wings and Tigers know the power of our brand to lift a community like Detroit," Brown said. "We take pride in connecting with our community every single day to make sure that kids are inspired to dream big through the power of sports."
