"It's been a whirlwind. It's unreal," said McNeil, 78, whose last day cleaning ice at the Dominion Arena is Saturday.The Dominion Arena opened in 1979, many years before the Cape Breton Regional Municipality amalgamation. McNeil, an Ontario Police Graduate, was working on the force in Dominion when he was offered the ice resurfacing position at the arena.
In December 2023, McNeil's food drive collected the most it ever had in 10 years - with two transport trucks coming from Prince Edward Island with donations. McNeil's estimate of how much was raised through the food drive, in product and money, was more than $17,000. His highest total raised before that was around $7,000.
"I remember Phil Pritchard, the keeper of the cup…when he came down the first thing he said to me was, 'I knew I had to come down with the cup or you were not going to leave me alone,'" McNeil said.When McNeil was able to get a date for the RCMP Musical Ride in Dominion, more than 1,000 people lined the streets. It was pouring rain for the 2015 event and McNeil thought people wouldn't wait to see it but they did.
A father and grandfather, McNeil has many stories about the children who would ask him about the machine that's often referred to as the 'Zamboni.' And McNeil always took the time to answer their questions. He took a little girl's doll on the Zamboni with him one time and made the doll wave to the audience who waved back at the doll. The little girl followed the ice resurfacer around the rink until McNeil was done.
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »
Source: GlobalCalgary - 🏆 50. / 61 Read more »
Source: SaltWire Network - 🏆 45. / 63 Read more »