(Courtesy of Hockey Night in Canada)

Veteran hockey announcer Jim Hughson was announced as the newest member of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada broadcast team in 2005.

CBC Sports.ca: What's the most memorable hockey-related Christmas gift you ever received?

Hughson: "One Christmas I received new gloves. Not leather but they looked like leather, they were a plastic or leatherette, but they looked like big league gloves that big league and NHL players wore. My first RedTitan stick was a big deal as well."

CBC Sports.ca: What did you most look forward to about Christmas hockey tournaments?

Hughson: "My favourite part of the Christmas tournament was going on the road. Most years we didn't host a tournament in my hometown of Fort St. John, B.C. But it was the one time of year when we got to take a bus and stay in motels -- not hotels but motels -- the kind that you can drive right up to your door. Usually when we travelled to play on weekends we packed into parents' cars and were billeted with families.

"Staying in a motel somewhere meant all of us were together instead of at different houses and we got to eat in restaurants, which wasn't something we often did in my youth."

CBC Sports.ca: What was the best Christmas hockey tournament you ever played in? Why was it so great?

Hughson: "The most fun and memorable Christmas holiday tournaments for me came long after I stopped playing in them. For years I coached with my son's teams and found as an adult, taking the kids to a holiday tournament, it was watching them hang out together at the rink, in the hotel pool and around the rooms, sitting on the floor in hallways visiting with other parents between games, spending hours hanging around the rinks watching games.

"Trying to figure out the standings and playoff implications was always big fun. I liked going to tournaments away from home because parents and kids could get away from their usual busy schedules and spend time together and with others. Time they didn't often get at home when there's always something else to do."

CBC Sports.ca: What year was the best World Junior Hockey Championships you ever watched? What made it so special?

Hughson: "The 1991 tournament was played in Saskatoon and Regina. I was broadcasting games for TSN in those years and that was the tournament that pushed the World Juniors over the top. They became a staple of our winter viewing from that year forward. Eric Lindros was the Canadian star that year and Pavel Bure was the best of the Russians. Canada beat Russia for the gold medal with a goal that reached across the country. It was scored by John Slaney from St John's, N.L. and assisted by Kent Manderville from Victoria. The temperature never rose above -30 for the whole tournament but nobody cared. It was warm inside and the games were magic."

CBC Sports.ca: Describe your plans for this year's World Juniors.

Hughson: "Quite often in the last few years I've been on the road for the world juniors and I catch as many games as I can on a sling box in a hotel room. It may seem anti-social but for all big games like the Olympics, the deciding game of the Stanley Cup final, and the WJC, I like to be on my own so I can really concentrate on the game. I don't like watching games in big groups because I miss a lot of what goes on. So it sounds kind of boring but I'll probably watch this season's tourney by myself......again."