It’s not every day you see a Zamboni driving down the street – which is exactly why Ken Shaw was a little nervous when he was approached by a VicPD officer on New Year’s Day.
It was Shaw’s son who suggested they take the 1986 Zamboni for a holiday joyride – just up and down their quiet little road in Vic West – after all, what could go wrong?
Naturally, the ice-cleaning ride was meant for just that – not street driving – and as such, of course, it’s not insured for the road.
Ken and his son were just pulling back into their driveway after the little jaunt when a VicPD cruiser pulled up.
Positive they were about to receive a ticket of epic proportions, Shaw instead found himself chatting with the female officer after she got out of her car and asked in disbelief if the vehicle she was seeing was actually for real.
She was in such disbelief, the officer called her colleagues to come check out the rare sighting.
After realizing they had a shared passion for hockey, Ken – who owns and operates Victoria’s well-known ‘Ultimate Hockey Fan Cave‘ – invited her to come take a look at the cave, which is home to eight televisions, tons of hockey nostalgia and paraphernalia is basically a fan’s paradise.
The Zamboni is just one part of the Ultimate Hockey Fan Cave, which also includes an outdoor “rink” and several pieces of furniture made entirely from – you guessed it – hockey sticks.
The Zamboni itself was purchased from a rink in Parksville, and Shaw has been working on retrofitting it for other uses.
To lighten the vehicle’s load, he removed the ice-cleaning equipment and plans to add things such a mattress and a TV on board, even beer taps on the side of the vehicle.
Shaw is even considering renting it out as a unique place for hockey fans to stay, or a place for friends to crash if they’ve had too much to drink and don’t have a ride home.
This isn’t the first time a Zamboni has been a vehicle of interest to police in the region – in 2017 during Victoria’s “Snowmageddon”, a Central Saanich farmer became a viral sensation after being pulled over by the police for driving his Zamboni down the street.
