When the uber-obscure band Jesus in a Sidecar sang, I Wanna Drive the Zamboni
they spoke for all of us.
Anyone who's been to a hockey game knows that driving the magical ice-cleaning machine appears to be the coolest job in the world. But, first things first. At Bird Arena, the ice-cleaning machine is an Olympia, not a Zamboni, said Marcus Marazon, Bird Arena assistant director.
Ten-dollar fine every time you say Zamboni Marazon joked.
The differences are negligible, though. Both machines employ the same method of smoothing ice, and contrary to popular belief, it's not magic. Jana Willan, a senior and one of Bird's Olympia drivers, explained that the machine isn't as complicated as it looks. A combination of a blade, augers and sprayers in the deck at the machine's rear does the work.
The blade acts like a plow, shaving off a thin layer of ice and scooping up snow. The auger -think of a large corkscrew -spins horizontally and conveys the snow to a second, vertical auger that carries the snow up and shoots it into a large tank in the front of the machine. Then the sprayers lay down slush to fill in grooves and hot water to replace the removed layer, keeping the ice at about one and a quarter inches thick.
If you use hot water it fuses together with the ice already there
Willan said. If you use cold water
then it just chips.
Driving the Olympia is vaguely similar to riding a lawn mower, but Willan said the rearward position of the driver's seat is hard to get used to.
It's like driving
only like driving from the back of a car
she said. You can't see directly in front of you. When I started
it was like driving in the back of a semi.
The Olympia also is designed to turn right, so it's always driven in a clockwise pattern. The driver sits to the left and hugs the boards on the first lap and then just follows the edge of the cleaned ice to drive straight.
About 15 student employees in different areas of operation at Bird Arena are trained to drive the Olympia. Willan, for instance, is a manager for the Learn to Skate program and cleans the ice after clinics.
Aaron Kohman, however, is one of the four drivers who has enough experience to drive the Olympia at hockey games. He knows the routine like the back of his hand.
It was nerve-racking at first
but once you start doing it
it doesn't change
he said. What I do is no different during a hockey game than it is during a rec skate than it is during and after practice.
There's pressure in it, as well, especially with a person in the passenger seat throwing prizes to fans during intermissions.
There's a lot that goes on during a hockey game that can ruin and disrupt a rhythm
