An update to the “loonie” story buried in the ice of the Salt Lake City hockey venue as reported yesterday in GamesBids.com.
It was actually Trent Evans, an Edmonton icemaker who hid the good-luck loonie, ($1 coin) but he also buried a Canadian dime. The loonie was obscured under centre ice during the entire Olympics by a drop of yellow paint.
On Feb. 4 Evans said he realized the E-Center rink’s ice had no centre dot to indicate where the referees should drop the puck. Evans didn’t have a loonie at the time, but dropped a Canadian dime in the ice. He said “the next day, I sealed a loonie on top of the dime and the day after that, we put the yellow paint on top to cover it up. I did it to bring good luck to the men’s and the women’s (hockey) teams”.
But it was nerve-wracking for Evans who kept the incident secret from his 13 American ice maintenance counterparts.
Although few people knew about it, the loonie’s cover was almost blown twice. On Feb. 21, after the Canadian women won over the Americans, several Canadians kissed and touched the ice covering the dollar coin. But the team kept his secret. Then on Feb. 23, the eve of the men’s gold-medal win, CBC broadcaster Peter Jordan spilled the beans.
During post-game celebrations Evans retrieved the loonie by melting the centre dot with hot water. The loonie will sit in the Hall of Fame. And the dime? Evans said he has no plans for the dime. “I guess that’ll be my little story”, he said.
