Pearl Jam inspired Zamboni takes the ice in Two Harbors

TWO HARBORS, Minn. — The Two Harbors Youth Hockey Association has welcomed in the newest member of its family, a Zamboni with a unique backstory.

The “Jamboni” is the newest Zamboni belonging to the hockey club, courtesy of the legendary rock band “Pearl Jam”.

The association reached out to the band on a whim after coming up with the name “Jamboni”, though not expecting a response.

Lo and behold, the band responded swiftly and were game to help this dream come alive.

“The brainstorm came about to ‘go big’ and request from Pearl Jam,” said Stephanie Aho, the association’s secretary. “We really didn’t have super high expectations of reaching out to them, that their response was going to be ‘yes’, let alone what a quick response we’d have from them, but in about two weeks, they reached back out to us and said that this is something that they would definitely be interested in doing.”

The association admitted that they didn’t have the bright lights of other clubs, but that was exactly what Pearl Jam wanted to hear.

“I explained to them that we’re a small community, and we’re a seasonal rink, and that actually appealed to them, versus a larger scale like at the Grand Casino Arena or a place like that,” said the association’s Executive Director Jesse Lundgren.

“It was very exciting for them to be able to give to a small community that maybe doesn’t have the notoriety as those larger venues,” said Lundgren.

Thanks to the gesture, Two Harbors Youth Hockey is in the midst of planning some “Pearl Jam” based events in the near future and, according to Lundgren, the band is forever welcome at Two Harbors hockey.