Hockey Den: The Premier Hockey Card and Memorabilia Destination
Visit us at www.hockeyden.net, watch the 08-09 Upper Deck Montreal Canadiens Centennial box break, and enter to win your choice of any card from the break!
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”Who Knew?” #2: The Zamboni
Far be it from me to say that inanimate objects in hockey haven’t gotten the attention they deserve. We worship the arenas, look longingly up at the banners, lust after trophies, make pucks glow and give them their own cartoons.
In my humble opinion, however, there’s one object related to the game that has been sorely overlooked in our love of the game: the Zamboni. The red-headed stepchild of inanimate hockey objects, this wonderful invention allows for the game to be played on the best surface possible, and also cleans up the ice quick enough during intermissions to leave time for things like giant inflatable dude slam dancing and tricycle races before the game starts up again.
It is with this in mind that I give you some insight into the life and times of the unsung hero of the game: the Zamboni!
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The Zamboni was invented in 1945 by Californian Frank Zamboni.
The Zamboni was designed to quickly resurface ice by scraping off ice chips created by skaters’ blades, then laying down a coat of hot water that creates a new surface in about 10 minutes.
Prior to the invention of the Zamboni machine, the manual resurfacing of the ice sheet required three or four workers and took over one hour to complete.
The top speed on a Zamboni is approximately 10 km per hour.
In the pre-steel studded tires days of the mid 60’s, Frank Zamboni had tire casings treaded with a combination of rubber and crushed walnut shells in order to get adequate traction on the ice for the machine.
In 1957, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) amended its “rule book” with regards to rink size and specs to account for the turning radius and other specifications of the machine.
The Zamboni machine made its Olympic debut at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley, CA,
When the machine resurfaces the ice, it picks up approximately 1500 pounds’ worth of snow, but leaves behind approximately 1200 pounds of water.
“Zamboni” is actually the name of the company, not the machine. What we call a Zamboni is more accurately known as an “Ice Resurfacing Machine”.
At approximately ¾ of a mile per resurfacing, if there are four resurfacings per game, the machines travel an average of three miles during each hockey game.
On average, a Zamboni machine "travels" close to 2,000 miles each year in the course of resurfacing.
In 2001, a Zamboni machine was driven from the East Coast of Canada (St. John’s) across to the West Coast (Victoria, B.C.). At about nine miles per hour, the journey took approximately four months.
Zambonis have headlights. Think about it… ;)
The first machine sold was a Model B to Sonja Henie for use in her travelling ice skating show. The price? $5,000.
The current annual production of Zombonis is 500.
There is a band by the name of The Zambonis, which they use under the terms of a licensing agreement from the Zamboni corporation. Check out one of their tunes!
The Zambonis – Hockey Monkey
On the TV show Cheers, Carla’s husband Eddie was killed after being run over by a Zomboni. The writers contacted the Zamboni familt to ask permission to use the Zamboni name in the show. Permission was happily and quickly given!
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin stated in an interview with People magazine that she "always wanted a son named Zamboni
The Boston’s AHL Affiliate, the Providence Bruins have a mascot named Sam Boni.
In 2004, a Zamboni machine operator for the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning buried a pewter Zamboni machine charm at center ice for good luck during the Stanley Cup Finals. The Lightning went on to win the 2004 Stanley Cup.
The Zamboni machine does not measure its travel in “miles”. Instead, the hours in use are monitored as a point of reference.
Other “Zamboni” Machines include:
a) The Grasshopper (a machine to roll up artificial turf)
b) The Black Widow (used to fill in dirt on top of cemetery vaults)
c) The Astro Zamboni (vacuum water from astroturf)
d) The Vault Carrier (lift and carry heavy cement burial vaults).
The Zamboni machines appeared a total of 47 times in the Peanuts comic over the 20 years between 1980 and 1999.
"Zamboni" is a song recorded by the band Gear Daddies. The song details tells the story of a man's desire to drive an ice resurfacer, popularly known by the brand name "Zamboni", and his request to drive the Zamboni for his local ice hockey team.
During a WWE event in 1998 at the Joe Louis Arena, wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin drove a Zamboni down to the ring to attack Vince McMahon
It hasn’t all been good, however. Here are some unfortunate incidents that have come down over the life of the Zamboni…
Nothing like an exploding Zamboni to put a smile on one’s face! Hopefully that’s something we can all agree on…
Remember to visit www.hockeyden.net, watch the 08-09 Upper Deck Montreal Canadiens Centennial box break, and enter to win your choice of any card from the break!
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