Al Sobotka

Al Sobotka (born October 16, 1953) is the building operations manager for Olympia Entertainment. His responsibilities include day-to-day operations at Joe Louis Arena. He was also involved in the operations of Cobo Arena until Olympia Entertainment relinquished management in 2011. Sobotka is known mostly for driving the Zamboni during Detroit Red Wings games for the past 30 years and for collecting the octopuses thrown on the ice during Red Wings playoff games. The official mascot of the Red Wings is named after Sobotka. Sobotka came in second with 97,261 votes in Zamboni News' 1999 Zamboni "Driver of the Year" Award.

Sobotka's role as Zamboni driver

Sobotka has been driving the Zamboni between periods at Joe Louis Arena for over 30 years. He is known for taking pride in his work, and he ensures that the arena's ice surface is of the highest quality:

When Brendan Shanahan played for the Red Wings he had some nice words for Sobotka:

When asked about going out and driving the Zamboni in front of 20,066 Joe Louis Arena fans, Sobotka responded by saying: