It’s a unique intimidation tactic ahead of the Edmonton Oilers game Tuesday against the Calgary Flames.
An Edmonton radio personality will be travelling from Calgary to Edmonton in a Zamboni to raise money for Edmonton’s Food Bank and get Edmontonians excited for the NHL playoffs.
Ahead of Tuesday’s exhibition game, CISN Country’s Chris Scheetz is hoping Edmonton Oilers fans will also support the charitable organization.
“There’s two things people love in our city — the Oilers and helping out others,” Scheetz said.
The CISN Country Food Bank Drive for the Cup presented by Crystal Glass will see Scheetz arrive back in Edmonton on Thursday. The Zamboni has a max speed of 16 km/h.
“Thanks to Alberta Transportation, we’re doing the drive completely safely. It’s not going down the QE2. Cliffs Towing will be following me with a pilot vehicle,” Scheetz said. “We’re going down some of the secondary highways ’til we get to Innisfail then Highway 2A up to Edmonton’s Food Bank where we will be ending.”
Edmonton’s Food Bank’s Carly Kincaid Williams said the organization typically benefits from Edmonton Heritage Festival donations around this time of the year. This event will help fill that gap.
“We know it’s going to get really busy at Edmonton’s Food Bank, so having events like this really helps us,” Kincaid Williams said. “It’s really heartwarming. You don’t know who could be benefiting. It could be a coworker or a family friend. Hunger doesn’t discriminate. Knowing that Edmontonians are there to support us is absolutely fantastic.”
She said Edmonton’s Food Bank will get busy with new and returning patrons soon.
“We know people will be coming to us. Perhaps they’ve used us before, maybe they haven’t. We don’t know what to expect. We’re preparing and event’s like [this one] this help us prepare.”
Scheetz said he plans to drive the Zamboni between 10-12 hours a day.
“The seat is not made for comfort or speed. It’s made to clean the ice. We will see how it goes,” laughed Scheetz.
ABC Muffler & Hitch and Clutch and Grab Transmission worked together to refurbish the Zamboni, which was originally used at Rexall Place to clean the ice.
“It was a little bit of a process trying to jam a gigantic fuel tank on this thing, that was the number one chore,” said ABC’s Trevor Gordey. “Then we had to build framing on the back so it doesn’t end up doing wheelies.”
In total, Gordey estimated about 100 hours went into getting “Stanley” ready to venture out.
“COVID has gotten us all down but we’ve got the opportunity to make a difference… so we are going to do it,” Scheetz said.
You can donate to The CISN Country Food Bank Drive here.