Former Oswego State women’s hockey captain Kate Randazzo has started her professional hockey career in Sweden after signing with Björklöven. 

Randazzo played in 105 games during her collegiate career, recording 53 points behind 11 goals and 42 assists. But it was not just her skills on the ice that former head coach Diane Dillon saw as a major asset in the four-year Laker. Dillon said Randazzo became the whole package of an ideal student-athlete.

“She had a tremendous amount of belief in her ability to do well in the classroom because she knew she was going to put the work in. She did that on the hockey side as well,” Dillon said. “By the time she hit her senior year, focused and ready to go, she knew what she wanted to do. It was thoroughly enjoyable to work with her and watch her blossom as a person and a hockey player.”

The growth Randazzo had led her into becoming an alternate captain her sophomore year plus holding the captain role for two years was something that Dillon also noticed. Going from “painfully shy” as a freshman, Randazzo gradually came out of her shell as Dillon put her in more and more situations to see whether or not she would respond to “leadership challenges,” as Dillon called them.

By the time senior year rolled around and now-head coach Mark Digby was brought into the program as the associate head coach, Randazzo had essentially become another coach for the team with her leadership capabilities, Digby said.

After the announcement of Digby’s move from the men’s team to the women’s team, Randazzo was one of the first people he met with. Digby was the assistant coach for the men’s team from 2010 to 2019 and said Randazzo “is as much of a pro hockey player as anyone that [I have] ever worked with.”

“When you talk with Kate, it doesn’t take you long to realize what a special person she is,” Digby said. “Just to have somebody else that was like-minded, and they were always pushing what was best for the team, I don’t want to say it made things easy but it definitely made things easier on the coaching staff last year.”

During her four years at Oswego State, Randazzo said the idea of playing professionally after college never really came up. But after COVID-19 threw most Canadian universities to a remote status for the fall, she was able “to buy herself a year to play hockey, study and get ready for the next chapter,” Digby said. 

Both Dillon and Digby said they were not really involved in the process of helping Randazzo get to Sweden. Randazzo added no one specifically helped her, but everyone was supportive. Digby said the first time he heard about Randazzo’s opportunity was when she got her visa to go to Sweden.

“I’d love to say that I was able to help, but I had nothing to do with it, which I think speaks a lot about her and the way she is willing to advocate for herself,” Digby said. “I’m not sure a day’s gone by that I haven’t talked with her just to see how she’s settling in. Just what a cool opportunity for her to have at this point in her life.”

The transition to Sweden has been going well, Randazzo said. She has two fellow Canadians on the team, one of which played for Lebanon Valley College and graduated last season. Jillian Moffat was also a two-year captain as goaltender for the Flying Dutchmen.

“The transition hasn’t been too difficult. My teammates are very supportive and helpful,” Randazzo said. “It was different playing a home game somewhere that wasn’t Oswego. Making a new game-day routing [and] learning a new warmup after four years was different.”

Randazzo said there was not any specific reason for playing in Sweden vs. other areas but that is where the opportunity presented itself. 

Dillon added there has only been one other player from the program to play professionally and stick with it. Alexa Aramburu, who graduated in 2016, has spent the last couple years in the National Women’s Hockey League. Others have “dabbled a little bit,” according to Dillon but never stuck with it. 

“It means a lot to know that Oswego prepared me to continue my hockey career … Oswego taught me to be self-disciplined, dedicated and made me practice in a team-first culture,” Randazzo said. “I hope that me doing this will help future players realize it can be a reality for them.”

Photo by Nicole Hube | The Oswegonian