(Courtesy of Jeff Marek)

Jeff Marek, host of HNIC Radio on SIRIUS Satellite Radio, grew up playing goalie in the Metro Toronto Hockey League. Currently in three Toronto-area hockey leagues, he says considering how much he plays, he should be much better.

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

Marek: "1982. I was a goalie growing up, and I remember watching Steve Penny of the Montreal Canadians who was a call-up from the minor leagues....He had these wicked Bourdon pads, a French Canadian company.

"At that point, all the pads you had were either DNRs or Coopers. He had these awesome Bourdon pads, you could only get them custom made and I remember saying to my dad, 'Those are the coolest pads I'd ever seen in my life.' And they were pretty expensive, custom made gorgeous goalie pads, and I never thought anywhere down the road I'd ever have them.

"But Christmas morning, I open up a couple of gifts, puzzles, and clothes and hockey sticks and videos or whatever, and I thought I was all done opening up the gifts, cleaning up all the wrapping paper, and my mom and dad brought out this big package, I didn't know what it was, but when I opened it up, my jaw hit the ground. It was a pair of Bourdon pads. Didn't make me a better goalie, but I felt a lot cooler on the ice."

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

Marek: "Christmas hockey tournaments were always a lot of fun because you got to see your team pretty much 24/7, playing hockey growing up, you see them Saturday afternoon or a Wednesday evening skate…but getting out of town with a bunch of kids your own age…just being with all your friends for an extended weekend where you get to goof off and the parents go and have a good time too, so they'd pretty much let you do whatever you want, so hockey in a lot of ways was secondary."

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

Marek: "My favourite one was in 1984 in Nepean, Ont., and we came in second....

"But what I remember most about that one was that I had my first beer ever. It was in Nepean, Ontario and it was a Labatt 50. I was 15 years old with that first beer and I remember thinking 'this stuff tastes terrible,' but you're with a bunch of guys, I think there was a dozen of us and we all split three beers. Each of us had like two sips of beer and we thought we were pretty cool."

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

Marek: "In 2005 in Grand Forks, for me, was the best tournament. The NHL was locked out and people were starved for hockey. That was the year the London Knights had their dream run to the Memorial Cup. Sydney Crosby was playing for Rimouski, they ended up in the Memorial Cup as well. But that Grand Forks team had a lot, and Canada went 6-0, won the entire thing, and was never really challenged in any significant way.

"The roster was stacked, Sydney Crosby was a supporting character - Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Ryan Getzlaf, Andrew Ladd, Dion Phaneuf, Shea Weber, it almost reads like a future all-star team in the NHL. A lot of these players, mind you, would have been playing in the NHL, but they were locked out, so they spent one more year in junior and this team dominated from stem to stern like I've never seen at the juniors. It was like a puck on a string, you couldn't get it away from them, whatever they wanted to do they did.

"And also it was the first time we got to have a good look at Alexandre Ovechkin, who played for the Russians at that point…He was spectacular, he was dynamic, he was everything we've come to know…. And Canada just put up a wall in front of him and it was spectacular to watch him try to break through this big red and white wall that was Team Canada."

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

Marek: "I'm probably going to watch a lot of it right here at CBC. My radio show is off at 7 o'clock and the puck drops right at 7, and I don't like to miss a second of it. I feel bad for even missing half a period….So I suspect the second I'm off in the studio I'll just turn the TV on and put my feet up and order a pizza."