from Pioneer Press

Hey, hockey fans! Remember the ‘Spamboni’? It’s for sale

By Nick Ferraro

The old Hormel-sponsored “Spamboni” ice resurfacer wheels around the St. Paul Civic Center in this undated photo. (Courtesy of Xcel Energy Center)

A slice of Minnesota hockey history is up for grabs.

The old Hormel-sponsored “Spamboni” ice resurfacer that once wheeled around the St. Paul Civic Center — all the while promoting the Austin, Minn.-based company’s canned meat — is being sold, as is.

The Xcel Energy Center and Visit St. Paul hope to get $2,000 for the 42-year-old relic, which for the past decade has been relegated to clearing the ice at the Wells Fargo Winter Skate outdoor rink at the Landmark Plaza.

Hockey fans might recall watching the yellow and blue Zamboni in between periods of Minnesota Fighting Saints games during the 1970s and at high-school hockey state tournaments and Minnesota Moose games.

“It still makes a good sheet of ice,” Larson said.

Indoor city-owned rinks are not an option because it wouldn’t pass today’s indoor-air quality rules, he said.

It does need some engine work — this past winter one of the engine’s four cylinders became stuck — as well as attention to general wear-and-tear items like bearings and bushings, he said.

“It runs on a retooled Volkswagen engine, so it’s not that complicated,” Larson said.

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