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RENTALS AND SERVICES - DRIVING THE ZAMBONI
Story by Alison Kemp, BGSU Student
Recreational Sports Writer - Fall 2007
Learning to drive the Zamboni was not something I expected to experience while at BGSU. I’m really glad I got to drive it,
though, because it surpassed all expectations.
I thought I would crash into the boards as I made turns at the corners, but I never did. The front end of the Zamboni is so
long that I did not think it would be possible to get close to the boards without hitting, even though I knew it was possible
because I had seen many ice cleanings during hockey games. Thankfully, there’s this really cool, little, blue brush, called
a board brush, that extends from the left side of the Zamboni and serves as a guide; keep the brush just brushing up against
the boards and the Zamboni is safe. Crash the brush into the boards, and well, that would be a crash for the Zamboni, too!
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Shannon Richards, an equipment operator at the BGSU Ice Arena, showed me how to work the Zamboni. Before backing the Zamboni
out of the Z-Room, the operator must check the fuel and water levels and lower the snow tank.
Backing out wasn’t easy for me. I was nervous since I had not backed out of a garage in years and also had to navigate between
the open gates to the ice. Thankfully, I made it!
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I spent about an hour on the ice, practicing driving and cleaning the ice. Shannon ran the controls for me the whole time,
so I could concentrate only on driving. Steering is performed only with the left hand while the controls are operated at the
same time with the right hand.The Zamboni shaves the ice, removes snow, washes the ice, and then floods the ice.
There are many things to remember while driving so that nothing bad happens to the ice. For instance, the conditioner blade
needs to be raised before backing out of the Z Room, but needs to be lowered once on the ice so that the ice can be scraped.
The ice water and wash water valves need to be opened once on the ice along with a plethora of other things. Also, don’t
stop the Zamboni while driving on the ice because one spot can flood too much and cause the ice not to be level.
| This one Zamboni lesson taught me a lot. For instance, I was at an ice arena in the Detroit area and I watched the Zamboni
driver make his rounds on the ice. He was driving too fast, which meant he did not make clean turns at the corners, which
left small chunks of ice uncleaned. He also was using too much water and the ice did not freeze evenly. But that’s the way
it works when you learn something new – there’s always something new that can now be critiqued.
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