CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Temperatures may be nearing triple digits outside, but inside the Family Sports Center in Centennial, it’s ice cold.
“You’re shaving a little bit, you’re adding a little bit of water, and that helps smooth out the sheet,” said Weston Woodward, the Ice Supervisor with South Suburban Parks & Recreation of a typical ice resurfacer like a Zamboni.
The facility houses skating rinks used for practice by the Colorado Avalanche and for youth and adult hockey teams. Recently they’ve added a new piece of equipment to their ice operations.
Skaters will tell you, predictable, smooth ice is best.
“You want it smooth. You want your skate edges to grab. It’s really important that it’s always the same way,” said Dave Lammle who has been playing hockey for about 30 years.
The goal to create the perfect ice for the rink just got a little easier.
GM Technics created an autonomous ice resurfacer, and there’s one right here in the South Metro.
“It’s a valuable tool in the toolbox for our operations. It’s like having a diagnostic computer where I can see what’s happening on the sheet,” Woodward said.
South Suburban told Denver 7, they were able to acquire the autonomous ice resurfacer through a partnership with GM Technics to introduce the machine to the North American market, but typically one would cost around $100,000.
“Does anyone else have something like this?” asked Denver7’s South Metro Reporter Danielle Kreutter.
“Not in the Western Hemisphere,” said Woodward.
The driverless resurfacer turned some heads during it’s first run.
“Oh, Brave New World,” Lammle told Denver7.
“I’ve never seen somebody do it with no driver. I thought it was pretty cool,” said John Barrett who’s been playing hockey for around 35 years.
The resurfacer is able to scan the ice and makes sure it’s thick enough to be safe, but also prevents there from being too much of it.
“Every centimeter of ice you add, you’re adding about 6% operation costs in terms of how long your compressors are running,” Woodward explained.
The machine puts South Suburban on the forefront of new ice technology. The resurfacer is able to get the temperature, humidity and thickness just right, each time.
Some players we spoke to said while the results seem great, it’s missing something… or someone.
“It kind of hurts my soul a little bit just because I’ve always had the dream of driving a Zam,” said Barrett.
“We get to know the Zamboni drivers, and we all become friends,” added Lammle.
The facilities supervisor told Denver7, no one is losing their job.
“It is still able to be driven just like any other ice resurfacer in the industry,” said Woodward, “It helps the ice tech be more efficient at what they do, and it give them a greater tool to use with more precision.”
He added, there does always need to be an operator on standby just in case there’s an issue.
“It’s just providing a better quality product while still giving my staff the time to do ice maintenance,” he said.