‘She Wants to Drive the Zamboni’

This is a neat little “human interest story” from the Toledo Blade’s Jeremy Schneider, which includes an embedded video:

Alex Howard’s journey to the driver’s seat of a Zamboni at the Huntington Center started at a baseball game, of all places.

She was a fan chosen for a promotion during a Toledo Mud Hens game, and she enjoyed her time so much, she asked to be a part of the crew. She was hired in as a member of the Pond Patrol for Toledo Walleye games. Then last December, an opening came up on the ice crew, and now here she is, working during Walleye games, change over for concerts and other events, and training to drive the Zamboni.

“It worked out really well,” Miss Howard said. “It’s been kind of wild. … It lined up perfectly.”

As simple and unlikely as that path sounds, there’s obviously more to the story. While she’s not the first female member of the ice crew, she’s the first female to be trained to drive the Zamboni at the Huntington Center, according to Jesus Rivera, operations manager for SMG, which owns the arena.

Continued, aforementioned video included…

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!