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Blackhawks' Hjalmarsson rewards Buffalo Grove school with visit

It's been a while since 28-year-old Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson was in elementary school, but walking through the hallways of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow School in Buffalo Grove on Friday brought back memories of growing up in his native Sweden.

“I liked school. I'm a competitive guy. I liked tests in school. I saw it as a competition. That got me to study a lot,” Hjalmarsson told an assembly of students, who got to meet and ask questions of the three-time Stanley Cup champion.

The school's 420 students helped collect and donate some 76,000 items to Goodwill Industries — the most of any school in Chicago and the suburbs who participated in the Pass It On Donation Challenge last April. The Blackhawks agreed to send Hjalmarsson to the school with the most donations.

A total of 1.3 million items were collected by 1,197 schools in the Chicago area.

Wearing Blackhawks jerseys and T-shirts, students cheered and screamed when Hjalmarsson entered the gym, giving high-fives as he walked through the crowd.

He presented a plaque and autographed jersey to Principal Rick Herrejon, who in turn provided the hockey star with a red Longfellow sweatshirt.

At age 5, Hjalmarsson told the students, he had dreams of making it to the National Hockey League. By 14, he focused his athletic skills solely on hockey.

He was drafted by the Blackhawks 10 years ago.

His favorite subject was history, and if he didn't have his sights on hockey, he said he would have wanted to become a doctor.

“I know that's a lot of studying, which is important,” Hjalmarsson said to the laughter of teachers.

No matter what your goals are, he told the students, if you work hard and you're determined, “there's nothing you can't achieve.”

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  Niklas Hjalmarsson of the Chicago Blackhawks dons a Longfellow School hooded sweatshirt after he gave an autographed hockey sweater to the school. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
  Madison Wong, a student at Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School in Buffalo Grove, asks Blackhawks player Niklas Hjalmarsson whether he likes cats or dogs. His answer? Dogs. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
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