Random Access

Imagine taking out your digital camera and having Tom Edison show up to ask if you know who invented that contraption.
That's a little bit how long-time Dixie Arena Manager Ron Rutledge and his crew must have felt when none other than Frank J. Zamboni showed up at the ice palace on Dundas St. E. one day to gawk at the "Dixie Dandy."
That's what the Dixielanders had dubbed the ice flooding machine they used at the Mississauga hockey mecca.
It must have been just a little bit embarrassing to have Mr. Zamboni peering over the boards and, no doubt, frowning.
It seems that, based on the machine that Zamboni had invented, two innovative employees of the Port Credit Arena had emulated the notion for their facility. Hugh MacNeil and Gary Scaife knew that they weren't in violation of the patent rules if they produced only one machine for their own use.
The problem was that other arenas in town soon saw what Port Credit had done, liked it and ordered machines of their own.
The word must have got back to Zamboni, who duly appeared at Dixie.
Not by coinidence, I'm sure, a short time after his trip, Dixie acquired a real Zamboni machine.
That's just one of the delicious little anecdotes in Dave Cook's new book: From Frozen Ponds to Beehive Glory - The Story of Dixie Arena.
The highlight of the book is a section called Anecdotes and Other Tall Tales. Cook, a former reporter at the long-lost Etobicoke Gazette and The Mississauga News and the city's Ward 7 councillor for a couple of terms, admits that he can't account for the truth of many of the stories in that chapter. He can account for their entertainment value, however, and that's why they're included.
Cook thought he'd finished with his historical writing after he produced his history of Applewood Acres called Apple Blossoms and Satellite Dishes. But strains of the Dixie Arena story kept popping up in the threads of that book. Cook couldn't resist another shot.
That's why he made 87 trips to the Central Library, doing research four days a week for a year.
For hockey buffs, the book will be a cornucopia of Dixie arcana, including the names of all 701 Dixie Beehives (including Brendan Shanahan for one whole shift during which he broke his stick) and the 48 who went on to the NHL. There's strong sections on Dr. Art Wood, the Stanfield clan, Flash Hollett, St. Lawrence Starch and its hockey card program and on the myriad of wonderful events, from pro wrestling to the largest showing of gladiolas in the world up to the time, that took place at Dixie.
The Cook book might not have happened without the support of another former Ward 7 councillor, though. Terry Butt has bought 1000 copies which he's offering as fundraisers to various groups. It's a wonderful gesture that has a benefit of supporting good causes and preserving history.
I asked Cook what he thinks will remain of Dixie's story after all the old-timers and their marvellous tales are gone.
"Unfortunately," he replied, "my book will probably be the only remnant of Dixie Arena 50 years from now."
From Frozen Ponds will be available at a book launch June 3 at 7 p.m. at S. John's Anglican Church at Dixie (of course) and Cawthra. The $20 volume is also being sold at Heritage Mississauga at the Grange and at The Hockey Hall of Fame.