Syracuse, N.Y -- The top speed of a Zamboni on ice is typically about 10 mph, although drivers go a lot slower than that to maximize the machine’s re-surfacing performance.

Whatever the open road maximum clip of the Sunnycrest Arena Zamboni is, it was likely pushed hard Friday night.

A spare ice resurfacer “raced” the nearly three miles from Sunnycrest to the War Memorial across city streets just in time to roll in as an emergency backup for the Syracuse Crunch’s game against Utica.

Here’s how it unfolded.

The American Hockey League requires teams to have two working ice resurfacers on hand for every contest. Teams usually use both at the same time before games and during intermissions to freshen up the ice, but if one breaks there’s still another one to complete that crucial task.

At about 6 p.m., one hour before faceoff, Crunch COO Jim Sarosy got word that one of the team’s regular resurfacers was leaking anti-freeze and was inoperable. The pre-game ice was smoothed by one machine.

After it was determined that the ailing machine could not be quickly fixed, Sarosy called Julie LaFave, parks commissioner for Syracuse, for help. LaFave, in turn, contacted Joe Burns, director of Syracuse’s rinks. Burns said he’d send Sunnycrest’s Zamboni over.

Ice resurfacers, of course, aren’t made for travel on regular roads. They have special studded tires designed for cruising around ice. Many are built to make only right turns and struggle to turn left.

And because they are so slow, they require a police escort for a road trip. So Syracuse police officer Bob Newman, who was working security outside the Crunch locker room, talked to his department about getting on that task. Sarosy said he thinks the Zamboni left Sunnycrest in the 7:10 to 7:15 range.

The Zamboni rumbled down State Street and into the building just in time to help out with the first intermission re-surfacing at 7:37 p.m.

“The story here is how wonderful everyone, county, city, all works together to make it happen within a very short amount of time," Sarosy said. "It’s very rewarding and comforting to know, and to be in a market like this, where this stuff can happen. It reinforces what a great area we live in.”

Sarosy said the Crunch’s out-of-order machine will be fixed Saturday morning. The Crunch hosts Cleveland at 7 p.m.

Made it just in time 🙌 pic.twitter.com/ocE4r6AMzg — Syracuse Crunch (@SyracuseCrunch) November 16, 2019

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