AMHERST, N.Y. — Amherst native Katelyn Koester was born deaf, but has played sports for much of her life as an avid and enthusiastic athlete across hockey, softball and other sports. Her cochlear implant helped her play on hearing teams well into college, and she didn’t play with deaf teammates until recently in her career.

“I grew up with a coach that told me, you need to be vocal, call the puck and everything,” Koester told Spectrum News Buffalo through an ASL translator, because her cochlear implant was turned off. “You know, just use your voice at all times. But here it's completely different and I like it.”

Here, she stands at Northtown Center, representing the U.S. Women’s National Deaf Hockey Team as they host other deaf hockey teams from around the world at the inaugural Jeff Sauer International Deaf Hockey Series. The night before the tournament began, Koester, her teammates, and other players attended the Buffalo Sabres game at KeyBank Center, which reminded the Niagara University forward of the subtle but noticeable differences between hearing hockey and deaf hockey.

“So the difference is when the ref blows his whistle, we have lights, so everybody knows that the whistle has been blown. But with the hearing team, you know, they just blow the whistle and you can hear that. But if I'm in those kind of games, a teammate has to stop me. You know, the coach has to stop me,” Koester said. “But now I just look at the flashing lights. I know it's time to stop. And really, it's quiet, I'm sure for you guys, a quiet game.” 

After playing softball at RIT for two years, a known deaf-friendly institution, Koester made the decision to transfer to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. to play alongside deaf teammates with the Bisons.

“It was really cool because everyone on the team was deaf. Everybody signed. It was really different, you know, because growing up I played with hearing teams, so it was a really cool experience,” Koester said. She even changed her major in order to transfer eligibility.”

After her softball career, Koester furthered her education and pursued hockey eligibility back home at Niagara University, where she was recently awarded ACHA Women’s division II player of the year.

With hearing teammates from the Purple Eagles and deaf USA teammates together at the rink, Koester says the commonality of hockey is illustrated plainly, which honors the games themselves; The inaugural four-day tournament between deaf hockey teams around the world honors the late Jeff Sauer, remembered for his decades of work coaching hockey players with disabilities. 

“I want [people] to know that there's nothing different from this tournament than any other tournament,” Koester said. “This is just a great opportunity for deaf people to play together and compete against each other like anybody else.”