The buzz of a Zamboni cutting across fresh ice is a familiar sound at Munn Ice Arena for Michigan State hockey fans. Behind the wheel is sophomore Sarah Corey, the only female student Zamboni driver in recent memory. Corey, an environmental engineering major, isn’t just navigating turns on the rink.
She’s also carving a path in a job long dominated by men.
“I definitely wouldn’t have sought out this job if it wasn’t kind of put in my lap,” Corey admitted, with a laugh. “But once I realized how rare it was for a girl to do it, that actually made me want it more.”
Corey started working at Munn Arena in January 2024 and was approached by her supervisor, Justin Garmyn, in the following summer when he was looking for a new student Zamboni driver to eventually replace a graduating senior.
“At first, I thought he was joking,” she said. “No other girls were doing it, so I didn’t think it was serious. And honestly, I was kind of scared. I originally told him no.”
But five minutes later, something shifted.
“I turned around and said yes,” she said. “It just felt like such a cool thing, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity. Not a lot of people get asked.”
Senior Zamboni driver Brady Johnson wasn’t surprised when he heard Corey took the offer.
“I was excited,” he said. “It’s cool to have someone like Sarah on the team. She’s got the work ethic and she’s always ready to learn.”
Operating a Zamboni is a lot more complex than just steering a large vehicle in circles. The training is intense and lengthy. Corey started last October, and is still refining her skills with guidance.
“The machine itself is huge, and it was super intimidating at first,” Corey said. “You have to learn what every lever does, how much water to lay down, how to get your turns right, and honestly, just driving it straight was hard at first.”
Matt Brown, a part-time driver at Munn for the past 6 years and Corey’s trainer, said working with new drivers is one of his favorite parts of the job.
“I love when I get to help train the students to become Zamboni drivers,” he said. “I feel like I’m a mentor to them. Sarah’s been really fun to teach — she picks things up quickly.”
Corey didn’t grow up skating and didn’t have much experience on the ice, unlike many of her peers. Joining the ice crew is a common entry point for students when getting involved with MSU’s hockey operations, but it wasn’t really an option for Corey. Her interest in the behind-the-scenes work was clear, and when the need for a new student Zamboni driver came up, she was approached about training for the role instead.
The training involved weeks of Corey simply driving laps with Garmyn or Brown riding along. The real breakthrough came during winter break when she drove solo for the first time.
“It was terrifying,” she recalled. “But also kind of freeing. I could finally just focus and make decisions on my own. That’s when I started to get confident.”
Zamboni driving at MSU, like many behind-the-scenes ice maintenance roles, remains male-dominated. Corey said she hadn’t seen a single woman driving the machine, even with plenty of women involved in ice crew positions.
“I think people might assume I won’t be as good because I’m a girl,” she said. “There was definitely some pressure, like I had to prove I could do it just as well.”
But that pressure has been met with support from her team. Toby Smith, a junior, said Corey felt like a natural pick for the role.
“She was the next possible person I could think of to get the job,” he said. “She just gets it.”
That encouragement has helped transform Corey’s nerves into motivation. She sees herself as part of a slow but growing shift.
“There are so many girls in engineering or doing manual labor jobs here. That’s inspiring,” she said. “I’m just happy to be a part of that change.”
Ask Corey what she loves most about the job, and her answer is surprisingly poetic.
“When I get off the ice and look back and it’s perfectly smooth, I’m like — I did that,” she said, grinning. “It’s this weird satisfaction. Like, I just drove this giant machine and made something kind of beautiful.”
The process is technical, prepping the blade, filling tanks with hot water, executing a precise pattern, and maintaining the correct blade and water flow — but also artistic in its own way.
“You only make right turns. That’s one of those weird things people don’t know,” Corey said. “And the centerline, it was so hard to get straight without any guide. But now I kind of have it down.”
Zamboni driving comes with its own set of curveballs.
“There was one day the wash water pump was just spewing water back at me,” she recalled. “I had to shut it off and just hope I did the right thing. You’re alone out there a lot, so you learn to troubleshoot.”
She’s also gotten her hands dirty helping to take apart and degrease the machine’s internal conditioner during summer maintenance. That experience gave her a newfound appreciation for the engineering behind it.
“It’s so interesting to see how all the parts work together,” she said. “That’s the engineer in me, I guess.”
Corey doesn’t necessarily see Zamboni driving as her long-term career, but she’s not ruling anything out.
“My dream is to drive during a game someday before I graduate,” she said. “That’s my big goal.”
For now, she’s content continuing her work at Munn while balancing the demands of an engineering degree. And if she inspires other young women along the way, all the better.
“You can’t sell yourself short just because you’re a girl,” Corey said. “If you put in the time and believe in yourself, you can figure it out. It’s not about being perfect. It’s about proving to yourself that you belong.”
She pauses, then smiles.
“And hey — driving a Zamboni is way more fun than driving a car.”