John Golde, 38
Title: Zamboni driver
Employer: Village of Rosemont (drives Zamboni for Chicago Wolves, Disney on Ice and other Allstate Arena events)
Salary range: Part-time work; $8 to $10 an hour
Q. What is your background? How did you learn to drive a Zamboni?
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A. I started playing hockey when I was 7 or 8–that’s how it usually starts. I was a rink guard and a maintenance person at the Rolling Meadows ice rink as a kid and learned to drive the Zamboni as a teenager. I was just hanging out at the rink and they needed a body to go out there. They showed me the operations of the machine–such as how to turn on the conveyors. One spins horizontally to put the excess snow from the ice into the middle of the machine, the other spins vertically and takes that snow and puts it in the tank. There’s also another tank that holds hot water. I had to learn to turn the valve to turn on the water. You have to adjust the water flow to put the water on the ice to smooth the ice out.
Q. How did you end up driving the Zamboni at Allstate Arena?
A. I was at Seven Bridges Ice Arena in Woodridge, supervising the building and running the machine. During the Wolves’ inaugural season, one of our guys from Woodridge went to see how the Wolves put their logo in the center of the ice and started talking to the people there. They liked the idea of having more people available who could drive a Zamboni because they needed drivers to cover all the events. They do not only the Wolves games, but also Target Stars on Ice, Disney on Ice, Notre Dame and Yale hockey games–whatever is going on in the building that needs ice. Sometimes they need people 24 hours straight! And there are sometimes odd hours. One thing led to another, and the Village of Rosemont decided they wanted to hire more people who could drive the machine.
Q. Describe an average day.
A. It depends on the event. On a Wolves game day, I have to get there at 7 a.m. and make ice a couple times to get it looking really good. The Wolves have a pre-game skate at 10 a.m. and the opposing team has a pre-game skate at 11:15, so I have to make ice again at around 11. After the pre-game skates, I have to make ice a couple more times. During the week, I can go home for a few hours and come back around 3 p.m. to make ice for the game. But on weekends, sometimes there are kids’ games in the afternoon so I stay the whole time. The kids’ games are usually at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. so they’re done by 5. The Wolves games start at 7 p.m. After the games, I stay about two hours to flood the rink back up.
Q. What do you like most about your job?
A. I like being around the rink, doing a good job. I’ve been doing this so long–I’ve done 40 or more games every year for the past eight or nine years–that it gets to be a job. But one of the highlights I remember is Game 7 the first year (1998) the Wolves played Detroit in the Turner Cup finals.
Q. What do you like least?
A. There’s not much not to like! The only thing I can think of is that I can’t see down the right side of the machine well, so driving down the tunnel off the ice I have to watch out for people and be very careful.
Q. What are the three characteristics necessary to doing your job well?
A. Flexibility–you have to be able to go with what’s going on in the building. Patience–things don’t always happen the way they’re supposed to because this is a little different than a regular ice arena. Here you might have a basketball game at 1 p.m.–there’s ice underneath and they put a floor on top–and then have to switch to ice after the basketball game in time for a Wolves game the same night. And you can’t be afraid! One of the kids that was working here didn’t like it; he was used to working in front of a couple hundred people and was intimidated by the crowds [at Allstate Arena].
Q. What advice do you have to anyone who wants to drive a Zamboni?
A. Go to the ice rinks–they’re usually looking for help. You’ve got to start at the bottom and work your way up. If you show up and have patience and do what you’re supposed to do when you’re told, the opportunity will come!