Refrigeration truck kept on ice in bid for parking spot

Monday, 12.19.2011 / 10:50 AM

By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer / Classic Preparations

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PHILADELPHIA -- The NHL's famous refrigeration truck had to wait this morning before driver Jim Fraser could finally put it in park on Hartranft Street beyond right field at Citizens Bank Park.

Why? Well, a gray Ford Escape with New Jersey license plates was parked in the spot reserved for the truck.

Nobody is quite sure who the Ford Escape belonged to or why it was parked illegally in that spot, but people around the ballpark were saying it had been there since early in the morning. Even better is that when the police ran the license plates, the car came up as unregistered.

Some of the workers here for the Winter Classic buildout were joking that they should just get fork lifts to haul the Escape out of the spot, but NHL Facilities Operations Manager Dan Craig, always thinking on his feet, said that could be a problem, especially if the fork lifts ripped up the bottom of the SUV.

So, Fraser sat in the idling truck in Pattison Avenue, waiting for his parking spot to open up. He finally came around to the other side of the stadium onto Hartranft Street and pulled up as close to the Escape as he could without hitting it.

And then, in what seemed like a blink of an eye, the SUV was being driven away. I couldn't tell you by whom or how it came to be, but it was gone and Fraser could pull the truck into its parking spot so everyone could get to work.

Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl

Refrigeration truck kept on ice in bid for parking spot

By Dan Rosen - NHL.com Senior Writer / Classic Preparations

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