Dan Diamond, editor, Total Hockey: They played 30-minute halves until 1910. By the end of each half, the ice was full of ruts and covered in snow, and the game slowed to a walk. D! E! V! I! L! S! Switching to three periods added another opportunity to clean the ice. Cool. Literally. Uh-huh. There was an immediate improvement in quality of play, but only partly because of the ice. The second intermission also kept players better rested. Beer here! That, too. But why periods? Why not thirds? Too awkward: first third, second third, third third. People don't talk that way. Fair enough. But why stop at thirds? Why not play quarters like everyone else? That was the joke about Bettman: "He's gonna switch to quarters, and have a tip-off after every goal." Good one. I suppose a third intermission would be superfluous. One's not enough, and three's too many -- like martinis! Right.

Jack Durkin, ice foreman, Madison Square Garden: Two Zambonis can clean the whole thing in seven minutes. Nice. Anything else you can do with a Zamboni? Not really. We did pull the Hanson brothers around on water-ski ropes once. Now that's old-time hockey.

Paula Jensen, general manager of merchandising, Zamboni & Co.: The machine was developed for one purpose, but people have converted them. I think there's an old Model K that's now a barbecue. Smokin'. Who invented the thing, anyway? Frank J. Zamboni. He owned Iceland Skating Rink in Paramount, Calif. It was taking five people over an hour to resurface the ice, and in the rink business, ice-time is money. Don't I know it.

Richard Zamboni, president, Zamboni & Co.: In early 1950, Sonja Henie saw the machine and wanted one for her traveling ice show. It took my father almost a year to build, then he drove it to Chicago for delivery. He drove a Zamboni from California to Chicago? That's right. Giddyap! He was supposed to meet her in St. Louis. By the time he got there, the show had moved on. Small wonder. When he got to Chicago, Blackhawks owner Arthur Wirtz grumbled that he was missing out on concessions because fans were staying in their seats to watch the Zamboni. Now that's entertainment!

This article appears in the February 3 issue of ESPN The Magazine.