Smooth operator: Rosemont buying new $114K Zamboni for Allstate Arena

A machine that’s been smoothing sheets of ice almost as long as the Chicago Wolves have been playing hockey in Rosemont is due for replacement.

The Zamboni ice resurfacer — seen during intermissions of Wolves games and other ice rink events at the Allstate Arena — is now 30 years old.

It’s used in concert with another resurfacer — this one, 20 years old — but both broke down recently from hydraulic line and radiator problems. That prompted arena staff to rent a machine to prep the ice before a Disney on Ice event over the winter, according to Pat Nagle, the stadium’s executive director.

Nagle got quotes for a replacement from Zamboni, the Paramount, California-based manufacturer whose founder Frank J. Zamboni invented the self-propelled ice resurfacer in 1949. Nagle also got a proposal from competitor Resurfice Corp., an Elmira, Ontario-based firm that makes Olympia ice resurfacing machines.

He decided to go with Zamboni’s Model 546, a gas/propane-fueled machine with a 77-inch blade, 125-cubic-foot snow tank and 195-gallon ice making water tank.

It retails for $114,424, plus shipping. The village board approved the purchase this week.

“That Model 546 is quite a machine,” quipped Mayor Brad Stephens.

The village will trade in the old resurfacer for parts, and hold onto the 20-year-old one. Two machines work on the ice at the same time during hockey game intermissions.

Another ice resurfacer that’s been decommissioned and gutted was given to the Wolves for their “Wendy’s Fanboni” experience, in which as many as 10 fans can sit in the machine and take a spin around the rink during pregame or intermissions.