By Tom and Jerry Caraccioli

For Oswego State Lakers Women’s Hockey head coach Mark Digby, the lure of what attracts his players to campus is entirely different from what others may experience with the promise of a big NIL (name, image and likeness) deal from a bigger program.

Besides the first-class facilities of the Marano Center with its proximity to the middle of campus — a 5-10 minute walk from classroom or dorm to locker room — student-athletes get the best of both worlds. They can commit themselves academically and athletically without ever really having to leave campus.

“The big one we hear a lot from our players is about being on the lake and having a community like we have,” Digby said. “Oswego is a pretty unique and different place. You don’t get to Oswego by accident. This is a destination.”

For a lot of players, they had no idea what to expect from the Port City when they made their recruiting visits. Usually when players arrive, they get anywhere from four to 24 hours to experience what the community is all about and has to offer.

“Most of our recruits leave with their eyes a lot bigger than when they arrived,” Digby explained. “The comment we hear all the time is they thought the lake was an ocean. And you look at downtown and what’s happened there with the tourism and rejuvenation that has taken place.”

Oswego’s rejuvenated downtown has played a significant role in recruiting, according to Digby.

“It’s a huge part of the process especially when players come into town and do an overnight. Their families stay in town and realize even though this is a small town there is a lot to do. The downtown area has been completely revitalized with shops and restaurants. All of that is pretty attractive for most families.”

But it wasn’t always like that for the women’s hockey program at Oswego.

Long-time ESPN anchor, Seattle Kraken host and Oswego State alum Linda Cohn, is an early pioneer of the SUNY Oswego Women’s Hockey program. Before she left the shores of the Lake Ontario campus for future fame and notoriety in front of a television camera, the 1981 graduate backstopped some of the first Oswego Women’s hockey club teams from 1977-81.

Those teams followed the 1972 Title IX legislation that “protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.” While equality was the goal for women’s athletics and it was slow-moving, the early years of Oswego women’s hockey was respected.

“We were always on the ice after the guys and I get that,” Cohn enthusiastically remembered. “They were a really good team. By the time the guys got off the ice it was almost 6 o’clock. But they were great. They really respected and acknowledged us. A lot of the guys would stay on after their practice. I would get on early and take shots from the guys, which I loved. That was really cool because they could’ve gone the other way on that, but they didn’t.”

The first year of play, 1974-75, the Oswego women’s team was a club sport. They played five sanctioned games and went the season without a win. The women’s team got better as they progressed through the “Me Decade” recording three winning seasons, a .500 season and one losing season heading into the 1980s.

Player participation and interest in women’s hockey at Oswego waned through the early 1980s and the program’s last season was in 1984-85. That year, under the guidance of Helen Glick, they ironically finished the season with a winning 7-6-1 record.

Twenty years later, with the announcement of the future construction of the Marano Center in 2004, came the relaunch of women’s hockey and rebirth of the program. Head Coach Diane Dillon was brought on staff during the 2005-06 school year and given the task of putting together a team in 10 months to start the 2006-07 season. Though it was a tall order, Dillon guided the women Lakers team through a 22-game season (7-12-3) and stayed behind the Oswego bench for the next 13 years. Her efforts built the foundation that set up Digby and his staff to be able to recruit today’s high-level student-athletes.

“Forty-something years ago when I played, the school knew that women’s hockey could be the start of something big, so let’s get it going,” Cohn said. “They understood and were ahead of their time with the growth. I can’t even think of any other SUNY schools who had women’s hockey back then. Kudos to the university. They put money into the program.”

Today’s team also connects back to the early days of Lakers hockey. Senior defender and Lake Placid native, Rylee Preston, is a relative to Laker royalty. Her cousin, Greg Preston, was the school’s second All-American player who helped lead the men’s team during his time in green and gold in the mid-1970s.

Among other notable talents to the program include international players Tilly Pethrick and Simone Bednarik — by way of Connecticut and Chicago, respectively. Pethrick is originally from Australia and is a member of the Aussie Senior Women’s National Hockey Team. The 5’ 9” defender was named top defender in last year’s Division 3, Group A World Championships. Following Pethrick in international play is potential future Olympian Bednarik, who competes internationally as a member of the Slovakian Senior Women’s National Hockey Team which has their sights set on a trip to Milan-Cortina in 2026.

“To look where we started to where we are now, we’re very fortunate with the resources we’ve been allocated,” Digby said. “Looking back at women’s sports in general, female athletes had some real hardships along the way. Fortunately, we’re at a place where — not only our campus but in society — the equity is far closer than what it was certainly back at the beginning of women’s hockey at Oswego. Our school is doing a great job of making sure our athletes are treated fair and given the resources they need to be successful — not just as an athlete but also to have a successful college experience.”

Cohn couldn’t agree more.

“It’s light years from then to now. The last 20 years have seen incredible growth at Oswego State and women’s hockey. They knew all along and it’s just fantastic. Oswego now has the resources and rolls out the red carpet for prospective hockey players. The Marano Center is amazing. Oswego has become a destination for women’s hockey. It’s remarkable to see how far it has come.”

“Our goal is to continue taking steps forward,” Digby philosophically concluded. “Those steps don’t always need to be massive leaps because sometimes when you do that you miss a step or two and can stumble pretty good. We’ve tried to have gradual growth, year-over-year. Hopefully over time, that incremental growth becomes exponential growth.”

And since this is Oswego, hopefully that growth creates a snowball effect that will lead to future successes on and off the ice.

Hockey at SUNY Oswego: From a Club to a Program

Team is ranked seventh in the Division III USCHO national polls

Nearly 50 years ago when women’s hockey was first played at Oswego State, it was a club. Today, with the team ranked seventh in the Division III USCHO national polls, vying for a SUNYAC Championship and trip to the NCAA Division III Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament for the first time, it has become a program.

The journey Oswego State women’s hockey has made from its humble beginning in the 1970s and early-1980s is personified with a story from one of the program’s pioneering players, ESPN anchor Linda Cohn, who recently talked about the early years. “I can remember coming back early from Thanksgiving and practicing that night,” Cohn reminisced. “There was a blizzard and we were walking from the dorms to Romney Fieldhouse in our big boots, freezing our butts off.”

Though the possibility of walking to practice in a blizzard still exists today, that walk from the dorms to the Marano Campus Center is much shorter than Cohn’s half mile trek to Romney. The strides the women have made from those early years have been huge. This season, the 2024-25 team has been ranked as high as fifth, and consistently a Top 10 team in the country.

Cohn, along with her pioneering teammates, credits her alma mater for its foresight. “Oswego State put money into the women’s program and facilities. Kudos to the university. It’s amazing.”

Tom and Jerry Caraccioli are freelance writers originally from Oswego, who have co-authored two books: “STRIKING SILVER: The Untold Story of America’s Forgotten Hockey Team” and “BOYCOTT: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games.”