All about Zoli’s Kleaners

Good guy Bronson Kovacs made a good name for himself as a hockey player who rose through the ranks of the game in Sault Ste. Marie from pee wee to bantam to midget to junior A before playing four years at the National Collegiate Athletic Association level and six more years as a pro over in Hungary.

Now 32 years old and having retired as a player not that long ago, Kovacs is back home in the Sault and working full time in the wood mill industry. And he also recently started up his own business on the side, Zoli’s Kleaners.

Kovacs decided to get into the cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing service business both because of his background in hockey and through his late grandpa Zoltan Kovacs Sr., who came to the Sault from Hungary in 1956 during the revolution and started his own business, Daylite Cleaners.

It was through his grandpa’s initials, Z.K., that young Kovacs came up with the name Zoli’s Kleaners.

At any rate, Kovacs relayed how he thought of the idea to start his own equipment and apparel cleaning business.

“After years of playing hockey and bringing my smelly gear home to my parents basement, I thought nothing of it at the time,” Kovacs relayed to Hockey News North. “Fast forward 32 years later, it took me buying my own house to realize how bad the stench really was. So this is my solution for it. For all the hockey parents that want their laundry room and garage back and are tired of having their kids gear stink up the whole house, we at Zoli’s Kleaners have the solution.

“That is, Zoli’s Kleaners aims to provide sanitizing and deodorizing services to Sault Ste Marie and surrounding areas with a process of using ozone for cleaning purposes that has been around for over 15 years but was generally reserved for professional and college sports teams. Now, we want to bring this service to the public of Sault Ste Marie,” said Kovacs.

“Using this chemical free power of ozone, we are able to clean everyday use items not suited for a traditional household washing machine. This chemical free process is a safe and effective method for cleaning sports equipment,” Kovacs pointed out.

He explained how ozone comes into play.

“Traditional no-wash cleaning sprays found on the market are intended to mask the smell coming from these bacteria infested items, however our process using ozone attacks and destroys the pathogens growing inside items by removing both the odours and bacteria that can lead to health affects,” noted Kovacs.

“As of now we are focusing on hockey equipment since that is what i know the most but we are looking at expanding our services to involve much more,” added Kovacs, who noted that items that can be cleaned in his specialized machine include but are not limited to:

• hockey and ringette gear

• sports equipment bags

• football pads 

• athletic shoes and cleats

• snow-machine/ atv helmets

• motocross gear

• ski boots and snowboard boots

• winter coats 

• police tactical gear

• graduation gowns