from William Douglas of The Color Of Hockey,
Anthony Benavides never knew what to expect on most mornings when he’d go to crank up the 40-year-old, hand-me-down Zamboni at Detroit’s Clark Park ice rink.
Sometimes it would fire up. Sometimes it would catch fire. Sometimes it would work fine. Sometimes it would work, then suddenly break down in the middle of resurfacing the only regulation-size outdoor hockey rink within Detroit’s city limits.
“It’s had a lot of maintenance issues,” Benavides, the Clark Park Coalition Recreation Center director told me recently. ”It’s like an old, old car. It’s on it’s last legs. That puts a hamper on our hockey program when we don’t have a properly running Zamboni. We don’t have a back up.”
Benavides’ mornings of mystery are now over, thanks to the National Hockey League and the Detroit Red Wings Foundation. The league and foundation Monday unveiled a new, sparkling Red Wings red Zamboni to replace the rusting ancient wonder and showcased a host of other enhancements and upgrades they donated to Clark Park as part of the 2014 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic Legacy Initiative.
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