Zamboni feeds Bo Johansson a little dirt on Brian Payne

[Thunder 1,166]

The Ice Legend answers questions, leaving Bo Johansson in stitches.  Johansson stopped by the Las Vegas Aces arena for the sole purpose of finding some dirt on his teammate, Brian Payne, only to leave with a new appreciation for both Payne and the legend of ice resurfacing, Rico Zamboni.  It was rumored that Zamboni sat with Johansson for hours talking about Brian Payne’s start in hockey and it morphed to the VHLM, E, and the L.

 

Zamboni remembers the first time little Brian Payne put on skates and grabbed a stick for his first tiny tot skate and puck lesson at the young age of 3.  Brian thought he was skating in the championship as he navigated around the older kids.  Zamboni chuckled as he described little Brian’s endurance, or lack thereof, “The kid had a lot of heart but his engine just didn’t go long.  That kid had two speeds, full speed and sudden stop.  And let me tell ya, when that little kid stopped, he used the wall.”  Zamboni reminisced that Brian Payne wasnt even out of diapers and he could skate better than the  8 year old kids on the ice.  To which Johansson asked jokingly if Payne was 7 at the time.  Zamboni laughed and then reminded Johansson that Brian Payne is one of the toughest kids he’s ever seen skate and he follows him in the VHLE.  Johansson agreed that he has seen Payne lay some mean hits on the opponents and hopes that as Payne further develops his skills, goal scoring will be one of them.

 

After about 3 hours of talking hockey, Bo Johansson thanked Mr. Zamboni for taking the time to chat and Rico promised to give Bo some more dirt on Payne when they meet again.  Zamboni went back to work resurfacing the practice rink.  As he drove his namesake along the ice he turned up his headset to listen to the VHL game between the Seattle Bears and the Warsaw Predators.  As the play by play went on, Zamboni recognized nearly all the current players.  At 84, his mind is still sharp and his memory quite well.  He’s always liked Hulk Hogan’s talent with the puck, both shooting and passing.  Hogan didnt disappoint Zamboni during this game as he earned the 2nd star with a goal and 3 assists.  Zamboni commented how easy it is for Hogan to get assists when he passes to Vinny Detroit, the 1st star of the night, scoring 3 goals.  Zamboni finished the practice rink just before the final buzzer that gave the Bears a 6-3 victory over the Warsaw Predators.

 

Zamboni uses an I-POD to listen to the VHL podcasts, as he only recently got his first cellular phone, a flip phone with no wi-fi capabilities.  His favorite podcasts have a little bit of humor and a lot of information.  Zamboni takes the information he picks up from the podcasts and passes it along to anyone willing to listen to him.  He recommends all players in the league listen to the podcasts as they hold so much value to navigating the forum, building the player, and all sorts of other tidbits.  As far as the humor, Zamboni will pause the podcast and laugh out loud as he remembers the discussion.  He sometimes wonders what he would sound like on a podcast.

 

Zamboni is an honorary member of the VHL as he has traveled the world resurfacing the ice for many teams, and showing new drivers how to get the ice ready for the talented VHL, E, and M players to show there skills.  He volunteers at the Las Vegas Aces facility but accepts opportunities to resurface the ice from multiple GM’s throughout the leagues.  He plans on heading to Oslo soon where he wants to see the Oslo Storm goalie, Wumbo in action.  After Oslo, Zamboni plans on spending some time in London.

[Shindigs 1,771]

11 hours ago, Thunder said:

Johansson agreed that he has seen Payne lay some mean hits on the opponents and hopes that as Payne further develops his skills, goal scoring will be one of them.

With the two of them now on the same pairing. You'd hope at least one of them learns how to score a goal in Even Strength. Power play specialists the both of them, apparently.