After 35 years, Gary Parnell will resurface the ice at the Peterborough Memorial Centre one last time on Saturday night.
“Booter,” as he’s more affectionally known, has been a fixture at the Peterborough arena and is in his element behind the wheel of the Zamboni.
His last sweep of the ice is Saturday during the Peterborough Petes’ last home game this season.
After that, the city employee is retiring.
“I’m going to miss the people, it’s hard right now,” Parnell told CHEX News on Friday. “It’s been a difficult time. I’ve had to say bye to a lot of people.”
Booter – a nickname he actually got from his father – started selling pop in 1973 and worked his way up the arena ranks.
But he admits it hasn’t been an easy job — after all he has been working at the oldest facility in the Ontario Hockey League.
But Booter has also seen a lot of great athletes on the ice and made some great connections off the ice.
“Bob Gainey, Steve Yzerman, Tie Domi, Mike Ricci, Kay Whitmore, Dave King – I could go on and on,” he said. “And I mean, they treated us like family.”
Petes’ interim head coach, Andrew Verner, first met Booter when Verner joined the club as a 16-year-old goalie.
Verner says Booter was always good to the players.
“Maybe the relationships back then between the players and rink staff was a little tighter; we had a little more free time on our hands,” said Verner. “And maybe the regulations were a little looser. If you wanted ice you could probably get ice, and if you were good with the arena staff they were good with you. I’ll never forget that.”
Known as a bit of a practical joker, Booter will be missed by his arena colleagues.
“We’ll miss his knowledge, he’s passed a lot of it on but it’s a hard thing to pass a lot of that on,” said Paul Wannamaker. “He’s a good guy to joke around with and lightens the mood around here.”
Added Larry Pluard: “He’s a lot of fun and he knows this building better than anybody, I’ll say that.
“He knows where every light switch, every breaker, everything is.”
Booter’s fondest memory is when Peterborough hosted the Memorial Cup championship in 1996.
But it wasn’t exactly an easy job for a Zamboni operator during what was a humid arena in mid-May.
“There was a lot of fog but we had 90-degree weather outside and a full house inside, so that was tough,” he said.
The Petes will honour Booter prior to their game on Saturday with a ceremonial opening face-off.