I Am Quickly Becoming Something of a Menace

For those of you keeping score at home, this is in fact my fifth post in twenty four hours. No, I'm not proud of it, but now that my latest play has closed, I have a little too much free time. Deal with it.

Jordi, hlog's resident Montreal Canadiens fan, alerted me to this rather interesting tidbit.

Toronto coach Paul Maurice accused the Bell Centre Zamboni driver of leaving rough ice in the end the Leafs shot from in the shootout. He said they did the same when Toronto visited on Oct. 28, although the Leafs won that time.

"I asked the refs to bring the Zamboni back out," said Maurice. "It was beautiful because they left a six-inch swath, so our chute was narrower. But anyway, that didn't cost us the game."

Wow. I can't emphasize enough the absurdity of such a claim. There are only two possible ways this could possibly be true. The driver(s) would either have had to A) intentionally miss a rather large spot, which would be painfully obvious to anyone who took even a cursory glance at the ice, or B) raise the blade on the conditioner so that the machine wasn't cutting as much at the one end, then lower it back down at the other end, which is neither easy to accomplish in an efficient way nor is it very good for the long-term well being of the ice surface. Also, it is entirely possible that, like the Caps, the Canadiens don't even have a Zamboni for their ice resurfacing needs (anyone familiar with the team who wants to confirm this one way or the other, feel free), in which case, Frank J. Zamboni & Co. Inc. will be rather upset with Paul Maurice.

(While I'm at it, I'd like to say that, if you haven't already, you should definitely spend some time poking around the official Zamboni website. Also, in case you were wondering, I used to drive one of these. And one of these. So if I come off as a little bit obsessed with all things Zamboni, it's because I am.)