Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Frank Zamboni’s birthday

The always inventive Google doodles, fresh off celebrating Canadian icon Mr. Dressup, pay homage to another beloved Canadian institution today; the Zamboni.The always inventive Google doodles, fresh off celebrating Canadian icon Mr. Dressup, pay homage to another beloved Canadian institution today; the Zamboni.

One point of clarification though; Frank Zamboni, the inventor of the eponymous brand, was actually born in Eugene, Oregon on January 16th, 1901.

Zamboni invented the ice resurfacing machine in 1949 after his family had opened an ice rink in Los Angeles. The Zamboni has since become almost as much a part of Canadian culture as Tim Hortons. The Montreal Canadians bought the 10,000th machine this past April.

Today’s Google Doodle is actually a game in which you can clean the surface of a virtual rink using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

Today’s tip of the hat by Google comes days before the resumption of the NHL season following a lengthy lockout by the league. Zamboni, who died in 1988, was posthumously inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

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