Ever since he was young and saw the ice maintenance crew driving a Zamboni to clean the ice at a hockey game, Bill Kahler from USA fleet member Susquehanna knew that driving the enormous ice-cleaning machine was an item on his bucket list. Recently, he was able to cross that item off by attending an ice school class at the Toyota Center in Richland, Washington, where he finally got to experience driving the Zamboni.

The class took ten hours to complete – four in the classroom and six on the ice and taught students not only about cleaning the ice, but about the compressor used to freeze it, setting the ice for the games, and painting the lines and logos as well. Five other students attended with Kahler; two came from Seattle and three lived in the area. The course was taught by two maintenance crew members for the Toyota Center. One is the supervisor and the other is a public relations practitioner who is also certified to drive the Zamboni.

When the students were first learning to drive, they had to take a Zamboni through a course set up in the parking lot. This allowed them to get a feel for the visibility and handling of the machine. After they got used to driving, the instructors took them inside and used two Zambonis to teach them to drive on the ice. Each of the students made four or five scrapes. “It was not easy to drive! Some people are better than others,” Kahler said.

Kahler drove well enough to become officially certified and also was able to discover that it is possible to fishtail a Zamboni.

“The instructors kept telling me to slow down! And yes, it is possible to fishtail, I had no problem with that,” Kahler laughed. He had a blast fulfilling his childhood dream and one of his friends of 32 years claimed that while he was driving, he wore the biggest smile she’s ever seen on his face.

”There’s definitely a good chance I’ll drive a Zamboni again,” he said.

Kahler, right, drives the Zamboni at the Toyota Center in Richland, Washington and is ready to fishtail!