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{"id":7110,"date":"2016-12-07T12:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-07T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/?p=7110"},"modified":"2017-02-20T19:20:55","modified_gmt":"2017-02-21T01:20:55","slug":"the-view-from-atop-a-zamboni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/the-view-from-atop-a-zamboni\/","title":{"rendered":"The View from Atop a Zamboni"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"zamboni-header\"$ <\/p>\n

Todd Lebel makes right turns for a living as an ice technician<\/span><\/h5>\n
Words by Sarah Mattes<\/span><\/em>
\nVideo by Jessica DiDominick<\/em><\/p>\n
The ice is an inch-and-a-half thick at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. On top of it sits a roughly five-ton machine that could be mistaken for an unorthodox storage container. <\/span><\/p>\n
A Zamboni is an elegant machine with its boxy shape and crooked angles. Under the hood, though, hides intricate gadgets and levers. As it rolls along at a steady nine miles per hour, all those mechanisms work to make that ice as shiny as a new brass bell.<\/span><\/p>\n
Sitting on top of it all is Todd Lebel, an ice technician at Wells Fargo Arena. \u201cTodd the Ice Guy\u201d has been in the industry for 16 years and driving a Zamboni 15 years. It\u2019s a bigger deal than you may think\u2014Lebel knows what it\u2019s like to be in front of a thousand screaming fans while operating a five-ton ice machine.<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\nUrban Plains: How did you get your start as a Zamboni driver?<\/b><\/p>\nTodd Lebel: I actually got laid off. I was in the heating and cooling industry. That\u2019s what I went to school for and took it as a part-time job and just kind of stuck that way.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: What is your favorite thing about this job?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: I like seeing the people that I knew from way back when I started. You know, it\u2019s a pretty small ice sports community in Des Moines. Just all the people that I\u2019ve had friendships with, that\u2019s nice. And then the other thing, we\u2019re the farm team for the Minnesota Wild, so seeing that a guy skated with you on Friday, and the next night he\u2019s up skating with Minnesota, it\u2019s kind of neat. Hopefully they\u2019ll win a Stanley Cup some day, and we can say those guys started down here.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: When you\u2019re out on the ice and you look into the crowd, what does it feel like?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: Well, I try not to look into the crowd. We try to focus on what we\u2019re doing. There are promo crews doing quite a bit of stuff out there so we kind of have to concentrate to make sure we\u2019re not gonna run into them. And then with the other Zamboni driver out there during the game, we just make sure we\u2019re coordinated. So I try to focus on what I\u2019m doing.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: Sounds like the focus you\u2019d bring to plunging through rush hour traffic. Could you compare driving the Zamboni to driving a car or tractor?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: I\u2019d say more like a tractor. You know, I\u2019ve driven tractors outside of here. I grew up on a horse farm. It\u2019s pretty comparable to that, if you were mowing a large field or anything like that.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: So what\u2019s it like to be driving during the game?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: During a game, [the] best way I could describe it to ya is if you sat in the backseat of your car, turned on the music as loud as you could and had somebody sitting\u2014cause I drive the one with the seat\u2014somebody sitting with you trying to talk with you; that\u2019s kind of what it\u2019s like. <\/span><\/p>\nUP: Sounds like a higher pressure situation than many might think. Does that make you nervous going out onto the ice\u2014even after 16 years?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: I\u2019d say the opening game each year I\u2019m still a little nervous. But after that everything cools down.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: What is it like when you have a passenger with you?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: It\u2019s nice. You know, that took some getting used to. But I like having the kids out there especially. It\u2019s fun. A lot of them seem nervous before we go out. Once they get out there, they wave and smile and are going crazy; so that\u2019s kind of nice.<\/span><\/p>\nUP: When you come out onto the ice is there a big cheer that comes from the crowd or are you more \u201cbehind the scenes\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\nTL: Now there is. I\u2019ve developed some fans. I met them through the years here. Yeah, some of them cheer.<\/span><\/p>\nFor more of Lebel\u2019s adventures on ice, check out #ToddtheIceGuy on Twitter and Instagram.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Todd Lebel makes right turns for a living as an ice technician.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n<title>The View from Atop a Zamboni | Urban Plains<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/urban-plains.com\/2016\/culture\/the-view-from-atop-a-zamboni\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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