Work Text:
Luca's full given name is Luca Elias Haas. He got his middle name from his maternal grandfather who was born and raised in Zürich where he worked for many years as a stone mason. Luca's grandpa Elias was a fixture in Luca's childhood. He lived in a small flat just a ten minute walk away from Luca's childhood home. When Luca's grandmother died when Luca was only two years old, Elias would spend a lot of his time at Peter and Greta's home, visiting, attending family dinners, and babysitting the three Haas children. Elias Fischer was a talented artist who spent the days of his retirement drawing sketches and portraits of tourists at Lindenhof hill. Little Luca would sometimes spend his summer afternoons as his grandpa's shadow, following him around and doodling on scrap pieces of paper while his grandpa did his work. Luca inherited his love of drawing, and his artistic abilities, from his Grandpa Elias. Elias Fischer died of pneumonia right before Luca left for Canada. Luca took the loss very hard, and cried himself to sleep for months after the funeral. Elias Fischer loved his grandson, Luca, and was very proud of all of his accomplishments. Luca misses his Grandpa Elias every day. He dedicated his first cup win to his late grandpa.
Luca Haas was born on October 27th, 2000 in the maternity ward of the Klinik Hirslanden in Zürich. His father, Peter Haas, is a professor of literature and linguistics at the University of Zürich, and his mother, Greta Haas (née Fischer), works for the Union Bank of Switzerland. Luca has two older sisters, Emilia and Sophie.
Luca Haas was a lonely kid who had trouble making friends. He was the sweetest kid imaginable, but he was just so quiet and shy, other kids just didn't really notice him. He kind of preferred to keep to himself, so kids his age found him to be a little weird and aloof. They were always surprised to find that he was very friendly when they actually approached him to talk.
Luca Haas spent a lot of time reading as a kid. As soon as he finished a book, he'd have eight more on deck, ready to pick up as soon as he finished the last page of his current book. His parents decided when he was 9 that they'd enroll him in a hockey program one summer so he'd get his nose out of his books. Hockey turned out to be just another hyper-fixation for him.
Luca Haas first learned to skate when he was three years old. His parents took him to skate all the time as a child, but it wasn't until he was 9 years old that he discovered hockey. He didn't discover he was good at hockey until he was 12.
Luca Haas has worn glasses since he was three years old. He wears contacts occasionally, but only when he's doing something active like playing hockey, practicing hockey, or working out. He's always hated how he looks without glasses since he's not used to seeing himself without them.
Luca Haas didn't have a childhood best friend until he was 13. Her name was Talina. She was the sister of his teammate, Gian, who was the most popular boy on the team. He was always nice to Luca, but Luca was never a fan of Gian's friends who were loud and sometimes rude. Talina hated how most of the guys on the team made fun of Luca and treated him as an outsider, so she befriended him and found that they had a lot in common. She would come with her brother to practices, and leave with Luca so they could get coffee and browse through bookstores together. They were thick as thieves for a few years, but when Luca found out he would be moving to Canada, she was sad to see him go. No one was happier for Luca than Talina, though.
Luca Haas loves to write in a journal. He has journals that go back to when he was 8 years old. He writes in his journal almost every night, and likes to doodle in the margins. Some of his entries are nothing but illustrations of the things that happened to him. He occasionally pulls them out so he can read about what he was up to years ago. Some of his earliest journal entries are quite embarrassing, but he refuses to throw them out.
Luca Haas has an addiction to the internet. He's fluent in memes and is obsessed with pop culture. He knows all of the major (and obscure) celebrities and big influencers and all of their lore. If they have beef with someone, Luca can tell you why. He spends so much time scrolling on Tik Tok and Instagram, but his favorite site is Tumblr. He also has a Pinterest where he likes to create mood boards.
Luca Haas has never been a fan of video games. He's just never understood the appeal. When he first moved to Ottawa, he pretended to like them out of peer pressure, because all of the other rookies were avid gamers, and he wanted to fit in. As the kid with the funny accent from a different continent, he refused to be the odd man out. He was terrible at them, though. When the guys invited him over to play video games, he’d usually just sit back and watch while enjoying the company. However, Luca does occasionally enjoy playing silly games and puzzles on his phone, and he’s great at Wii Bowling. He also loves Just Dance, but not when there’s too many people watching.
Luca Haas's first pet was a Swiss Mountain Dog named Heidi. His grandpa gave her to him as a puppy for his fourth birthday. She died of a tumor when Luca was 16. He held her paw as the veterinarian put her down. He cried for days. She's buried in a pet cemetery not far from his childhood home.
Luca Haas cannot cook, but there are a few things he makes really well. He really got into the overnight oats trend and has a few recipes that he's managed to perfect. He likes to make them before days off as a treat. One of his go-to breakfasts is a fried egg on avocado toast. He doesn't care for the sesame seeds in everything bagel seasoning, so he makes his own blend of herbs and spices to sprinkle on top of his avocado toast. He's obsessed with IKEA meatballs and always has a few bags in his freezer. He has a few tricks he uses to improve the flavor of the sauce. And he makes a great sandwich. He loves a club sandwich with avocado and honey mustard. Despite being terrible at cooking, Luca is surprisingly skilled at baking, and has been known to stress-bake whenever he gets anxious or overwhelmed. His favorite thing to bake is Schoggiweggli, or Swiss Chocolate Buns. They are quite delicious. His fellow Centaurs always enjoy when Luca gets stressed out, because it means they are about to be treated to some tasty baked goods.
Luca Haas has always wanted to learn how to surf. He once looked in to lessons while he was in Los Angeles for a game, but he only had three hours to spare. He was disappointed to learn that it takes more than three hours to learn to surf. He hopes to take a trip to Hawaii one day so he can spend a week learning how to surf from a pro.
Luca Haas loves to travel. From the time he was a small child, Luca's parents would take him and his sisters on several trips every summer. Luca has visited every European country except for Kosovo and Cyprus. His favorites are Greece, Croatia, and The Czech Republic. His parents own a Chalet in the Alps where they would go skiing several times a year. It's always been his dream to own a Chalet of his own one day, maybe as a vacation home after he retires.
Luca Haas loves snowboarding, and for a few years in his teens, he considered pursuing competitive snow boarding. He learned to ski when he was 6, and thought it was alright, but when he tried snowboarding for the first time at 9, he immediately fell in love with it. He's a huge showoff on the slopes, and he owns six custom snowboards.
Luca Haas loves Disney movies. He grew up watching the classics with his sisters. His favorite is The Lion King, but he also loves The Little Mermaid, which was the first Disney movie he remembers seeing. He had a massive crush on Prince Eric when he was little. In one of his journals, he has a definitive ranking of all the Disney Princes. His Top 3 are Eric, Aladdin, and Milo Thatch. He's also a big fan of Hercules and Tarzan, and he thinks Prince Philip is very charming.
Luca Haas was incredibly close with his sisters Emilia and Sophie. They were always very protective over their shy, sensitive little brother. He'd often get roped into playing dress-up, tea party, or dolls with his big sisters. As he got older, he'd get embarrassed if someone mentioned that he used to let his sisters put lipstick on him or that he used to play with dolls, but he always enjoyed playing with his sisters. He often finds himself getting nostalgic when ever he passes the doll aisle in the toy section of a store. He secretly hopes that one day he'll have a little girl who will invite him to her tea parties.
Luca Haas has never missed a game night at Wyatt Hayes’s house. There’s a few Swiss board games that he introduced to the guys and taught them how to play. He was largely unfamiliar with most of the classic board games that Wyatt would bring out, but he caught on to most of them pretty quickly and always enjoyed playing. His favorite board game is Clue. He suggested that someday they should all attend a murder mystery party together, because, what fun!
Luca Haas has always been something of a late bloomer. He didn't have his first kiss until he was 18. It was with a fellow hockey player from his juniors team. They were snowed in during a snow storm, and sharing a hotel room. They were both a little tipsy. It wasn't a good kiss. When they both leaned in, they accidentally bonked their foreheads together which made Luca fall off the bed. They tried again, but neither of them knew what they were doing, so it ended up being a little sloppy. They remained friends, but they never spoke of it again.
Luca Haas hates staying in hotels. He's stayed in a few really nice ones that weren't so bad, but the rooms they always stay in during away games are usually not very good. He hates sleeping on saggy, worn-out mattresses. He hates sleeping in thread-bare sheets that smell like industrial detergent. He hates wiping his face with hard, scratchy towels that reek of bleach. He hates generic toilet paper. And he especially hates when the hotel is older, and you can instantly tell when you get put in a room that used to allow smoking. He's never been a fan of hotel breakfasts. He hates the taste of ice from a hotel ice machine. And he doesn't like waking up shivering because the room's air conditioning is erratic. One thing he does like is the smell of pool chlorine. Luca loves to swim.
Luca Haas has quite a sweet tooth. His weakness is lemon flavored desserts, especially his mom's lemon shortbread cookies. He really likes lemon sorbet, lemon merengue pie, lemon cheesecake, and the lemon squares Harris's mom makes. He also loves lemon candy, especially Lemonheads and the yellow Skittles. Evan Dykstra hates the yellow and green Skittles, so he always gives them to his buddy, Luca.
Luca Haas doesn't mind flying, even after nearly dying while on the way to Tampa his rookie year. He always enjoys the time it allows him to catch up on his reading. But he does dislike how his ears pop when the plane ascends. He remedies this by chewing gum. His favorite is Bubbleicious Gum in the watermelon flavor. He buys a pack at the duty-free in the airport before every flight. He has a drawer at home that’s filled with opened packages of his favorite gum because he always forgets to pack it when he leaves for an away game. As far as he knows, the duty-free in the Ottawa Airport is the only place that sells the watermelon Bubbleicious gum. He’s never seen it in any grocery stores or candy stores in Ottawa. He has tried other brands of gum, but none are as good at relieving the pressure in his ears.
Luca Haas uses flannel sheets on his bed year round. He does not like the texture of linen sheets. In the summer time, he finds that flannel sheets keep him cooler, whereas linen sheets make him sweat and break out. He just really likes the soft, fuzzy sensation of crawling into a warm bed with flannel sheets. It’s weird. He knows this. Please don’t ask him to explain.