INGLIS, Man. – What does a Manitoba man do when nature coats a rural highway with a thick coat of pristine ice in the middle of winter?
For Wade Eftoda the answer was obvious: put on hockey skates and use the road as a makeshift rink.
Eftoda and his wife Kristyn were slowly driving home Wednesday on Highway 482 near Dropmore when they noticed the road was slick and shiny with ice from a storm of freezing rain the night before.
His wife suggested he lace up his skates and go for a spin on the deserted secondary highway.
“The ice I skated on was absolutely perfect,” he said Thursday. “It was almost like a curling rink – it was extremely smooth.”
As Eftoda skated down the road and back in the dim light of the late afternoon his wife recorded his performance on video and posted it on her Facebook page.
Kristyn Eftoda could barely contain her glee as he came to a stop, the headlights of their vehicle reflecting off of his skate blades.
“Ice skating on the highway,” she said. “Only in Canada.”
The Eftodas aren’t the only Canadians with the idea. After freezing rain in Regina, residents took their skates to the streets as well.
WATCH: Freezing rain turns Regina road into skating rink
Wintry conditions led to collisions and avalanche hazards in B.C. which left traffic at a standstill last month, which some British Columbians took as an opportunity to drop a puck.
READ MORE: Stranded drivers play hockey on side of Coquihalla
Wade Eftoda said he had just purchased the skates a few weeks ago after his five-year-old son became interested in learning how to skate.
The boy was disappointed that he didn’t have his skates with him to join his dad.
Eftoda said the roads in the area just across the Saskatchewan boundary are still covered with ice.
He said in the 34 years he has lived in the area he has never seen anything like it.
“It is still like that,” he said with a laugh. “I bet you could still go skating on there [Thursday night].”
People commenting on the video on social media said the only thing that would have made Eftoda’s skating exploit more Canadian is if he had been holding a hockey stick.
*with files from Global News
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