Zamboni Blues
by Steve, March 22nd, 2006
Well I went down to the local arena
Asked to see the manager man
He came from his office, said, “Son can I help you?”
I looked at him and said, “Yes you can…”
I want to Drive the Zamboni…hey
I want to Drive the Zamboni…Yes I do!
—Zamboni Song by the Gear Daddies
As if I needed proof of the old adage that life is better with a Zamboni than without one, I got to the old rink today for my lunch hour pick up hockey to discover the Zamboni (actually an Olympia) had blown an intake manifold.
“No ice cut today!” said Swede. Well, how bad can it be, I’m thinking to myself. “Pond hockey!” says Swede. 
Indeed. The ice is so clouded, the lines have been hidden for months. And the Zamboni broke down last night (not this morning), so we weren’t talking about a few little scratches from the ice dancers this morning, but the gravel and snow that’s left after a hockey game. The only thing missing were carp frozen in the ice. Swede said it sounded like a gunshot to his head when the thing blew.
They’re closed tomorrow for “building repairs,” which means they’re going to keep the roof beams from falling off their concrete pillars. Well, that’s good. I guess it means they’re not going to condemn the old barn and bulldoze it. So I asked Swede if he was going to take the day to shave down the ice. Nope, they’re going to have all kinds of heavy equipment out there. So we’ll be skating without lines for some time to come. But at least we’ll have the Zamboni back.
