Football: Hinsdale South’s Matt Welgos has coolest job in town

Matt Welgos doesn’t get much sleep this time of the summer.

The Hinsdale South offensive lineman from Darien started a new job last month working at Canlan Ice Sports in Romeoville.

One of his duties is to drive one of Canlan’s two Zambonis that it uses to clean its three NHL-sized ice rinks. It might be safe to assume that Welgos has the coolest job of any student at Hinsdale South this summer.

But the hours can be tough when combined with daily football practices this summer. On July 11, Welgos made five cuts on the Zamboni during his evening shift, but didn’t get out of Canlan until after midnight. He was expected to be at Hinsdale South’s practice field the next morning at 6:30 for summer workouts.

Practice lasts two hours followed by another two hours of weight training for all players, Monday through Thursday.

“I take a nap after practice,” said Welgos, who usually starts another shift at Canlan at 4 p.m.

Canlan was formerly known as the International Ice Centre, but the previous owners sold the building to a Canadian company that operates 18 facilities in North American. The Romeoville building and a Fort Wayne, Ind., location are the only facilities owned by Canlan in the United States.

During the summer when demand for ice time is low, Canlan converts one of its rinks by covering it with artificial turf and installs nine inflatables to create Bounce Mania for young kids.

Canlan is also home to the Huskies youth hockey program, a 31-team adult hockey league and a 12-team in-house youth league.

Welgos takes care of facility maintenance with at least one other employee on a given evening. He’ll wash windows, clean out locker rooms, pick up trash and drive the Zamboni.

He went through three weeks of training to drive the Zamboni. At first, an instructor sat next to him on the “truck” and later watched Welgos from the sideline. His first day of operating a Zamboni without supervision was July 11.

“We have five to six drivers for the Zamboni,” Welgos said. “Some are here one day a week and some work during the days.”

The hardest part of driving the Zamboni is gauging how much ice to cut while determining how much water to put back on, according to Welgos. He said when paint shows up in the bin filled with ice above the Zamboni, then Welgos knows he has cut too much.

Welgos works at Canlan during the evening when the facility lacks the daytime buzz of children everywhere either at Bounce Mania or during skate lessons that are offered by the staff.

On Welgos’ shift, the lobby is quiet with a closed concession stand and pro shop while adult league hockey players roll their equipment in and out of the parking lot. You can count fans in the stands using one hand for adult-league hockey games. For Welgos, an occasional highlight to the evening could a scuffle between teams to end a chippy adult hockey game.

“I applied [for the job] in March,” Welgos said. “It’s something I can do through college for when I come home on the weekends.”

There is a family connection too. Welgos now holds the same job held by his older brother Tim years ago. Tim, 24, is a construction manager and also played football and hockey in high school, Matt Welgos played for Hinsdale South’s hockey team after football last season, but is considering a switch to a travel team for this upcoming hockey season.

“It’s the coolest job out there,” Welgos said. “It’s a cool job. I get to drive a Zamboni at 17.”

Matt is the fourth of Joe and Pam Welgos’ five children. All of them were athletes at Hinsdale South. Older brother Joe went on to play hockey in college and older sister Maggie played basketball as a freshman and sophomore. Matt’s younger sister, Kaitlyn, a junior, competes in track and field.

Matt isn’t the prototypical offensive lineman at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds. He started playing football in sixth grade at Cass Junior High.

“I like everything about it. Anybody could play it,” Welgos said.

He was the starting left tackle for new coach Mike Barry last season, but could move to center this fall in a possible shakeup of the offensive line. Welgos would welcome the move. He played center as a freshman and sophomore.

“It will be different, but I enjoy it,” Welgos said. “It’s better for somebody my size.”

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