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vladdy16

Inventor looks to drastically shorten ice resurfacing time

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Paul Van Eijl of Minnesota has invented a machine that will resurface the ice in approximately a minute, which will mean no more Zambonis and no more Al.

I understand progress, but where do we draw the line of putting people out of jobs? And when do we progress versus protecting the history of the game?

BTW, this won't shorten intermissions; the CBA states it has to be 18 minutes. This leaves that much more time for Musical Chairs at center ice. Oh, yay. :annoyed:

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Isn't there some sort of human presence for quality? Can this ice machine fix and repair the ice if there is any issues?

The ice is only as good as the ice foundation an the cooling system...

Plus, I would like to see how this is welcomed with the current game in aspects of intermission vs time in correlation with bathroom uses and concession sales.

I mean, I for one wait for intermission to use the facilities, buy cool overpriced appearal, and price gouging pizza/drinks/dogs.... I don't want to miss any hockey and even if there is TVs to watch the game, being in a seat and with the crowd is part of the reason for going.

Shorter intermissions may result in a decrease of sales on the retail end, wonder how the owners and businesses feel about that....

I can see the "new and improved" secret ice machine used to resurface the ice during the period if it does the entire ice within 1 minute somehow..

I don't know

Edited by Rivalred

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Isn't there some sort of human presence for quality? Can this ice machine fix and repair the ice if there is any issues?

The ice is only as good as the ice foundation an the cooking system...

Plus, I would like to see how this is welcomed with the current game in aspects of intermission vs time in correlation with bathroom uses and concession sales.

I mean, I for one wait for intermission to use the facilities, buy cool overpriced appearal, and price gouging pizza/drinks/dogs.... I don't want to miss any hockey and even if there is TVs to watch the game, being in a seat and with the crowd is part of the reason for going.

Shorter intermissios may result in a decrease of sales on the retail end, wonder how the owners and businesses feel about that....

I guess you missed the part about how it can't shorten intermissions because the cba won't allow it

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Link?

Left my spare copy of the CBA in my other Mercedes which is getting an oil change by P Diddy

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/puck-daddy/10-interesting-highlights-nhl-cba-054912422--nhl.html

• Intermission lengths are increased from 17 to 18 minutes and all between-periods activities are shortened from 5 minutes to 4. This is to help improve the ice surface. So mites on ice, hurry up!

Can't find official wording of it from the CBA, but if you Google "NHL Intermission CBA", you'll find dozens of stories about the changes in the new (read: current) CBA which mention the intermission increasing from 17 to 18 minutes.

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Link?

Left my spare copy of the CBA in my other Mercedes which is getting an oil change by P Diddy

I don't really get the reference, but it was stated in the original post

77.2 Intermission Timing Play shall be resumed promptly following each intermission upon the expiration of seventeen (17) minutes or a length of time designated by the League from the completion of play in the preceding period. Timing of the intermission commences immediately upon the conclusion of the period. (See Rule 34 Game Timekeeper.) Preliminary warnings shall be given by the Game Timekeeper to the officials and to both teams five (5) minutes and two (2) minutes prior to the resumption of play in each period to enable the teams to start play promptly.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=26488

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I just don't see many teams buying this technology in the near future. Zamboni's are expensive and are usually good for a long time. Once a team, especially in the lower leagues, has committed to purchasing a Zamboni, they won't need to purchase more ice resurfacing equipment for at least 10-15 years. It makes zero financial sense for many, many teams to purchase this new technology. This is especially true considering that, even though there is a drastic reduction in resurfacing time, the intermission is still 17-18 minutes regardless.

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Look at the bigger picture here.

The NHL and other pro hockey leagues are just a small part of the ice time that is used. You have rec league games, college games, kids games, and so on. Imagine if you can eliminate or reduce the amount of zamboni time. You could fit in 4 games in the span of 3.

The intermission time is really a time to regroup and the coach to say something. I wouldn't be in favor of eliminating or reducing the intermissions in pro hockey. As a referee, I certainly wouldn't like reffing 3 games in a row without a 10-15 minute zam time break. I would deal with it though. If I was a rink owner or ran a rink, I would embrace this technology if it worked as good if not better than the classic zamboni.

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Just because he's created the technology to do it doesn't mean it will be cost effective to do it.

Your neighborhood rinks are the places that would actually benefit from this considering it would allow them to pack extra games into the facility but if the machine costs a million dollars to install and 10s of thousands to maintain then it will end up as just another fancy invention that never got off the ground.

Cost will be the determining factor on whether this invention is of any use at all.

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I wonder if the Zamboni got negative reception when it was introduced as it was not "iconic" at that time.

If it is economical and functions well, use it. It won't change the intermissions other than that they'll be using a different technology to resurface the ice.

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I wonder if the Zamboni got negative reception when it was introduced as it was not "iconic" at that time.

If it is economical and functions well, use it. It won't change the intermissions other than that they'll be using a different technology to resurface the ice.

But then Al will have to learn to operate a different machine! Learning new things is HARD!

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Isn't it ironic that technology is the medium in which we are reading about this story yet somehow it has generated some kind of fear about how tech is taking work away from real people and diminishing history? Technology will always replace people, it has for a hundred years. I'm sure the tone of the article is bringing about this fear, but holy smokes people, calm down.

Point I as making if you state something back it up with a link as I don't know every single rule of the CBA and thank you for the info; guess sit back and see how this plays out

Or you could just read the OP where it was clearly stated.

Edited by rrasco

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Isn't it ironic that technology is the medium in which we are reading about this story yet somehow it has generated some kind of fear about how tech is taking work away from real people and diminishing history? Technology will always replace people, it has for a hundred years. I'm sure the tone of the article is bringing about this fear, but holy smokes people, calm down.

Or you could just read the OP where it was clearly stated.

Yeah totally missed it, that is for sure

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