Athletic trainer enjoys ‘rough and tough’ side of hockey

Thursday, March 5, 2026

Media Contact: Sara Plummer | Senior Communications Coordinator | 918-561-1282 | sara.plummer@okstate.edu

Being the athletic trainer for the Tulsa Oilers hockey team means dealing with a lot of injuries to knees, shoulders, wrists and hips. And of course, a lot of blood.

“There’s almost always stitches or a missing tooth. There’s always blood,” said Sara Latos, the team’s athletic trainer. “I’m very comfortable with blood these days. You can’t be squeamish.”

This is Latos’ second season with the Oilers, but she’s been around the sport her whole life.

Her father played professional hockey and then started coaching it around the time she was born.

“I grew up in the rink. I’ve watched it my whole life. I grew up watching my cousins play, my brother played,” she said. “I do enjoy how rough and tough it is. I grew up with a lot of boys so it’s a very rough and tough family. This is a very familiar sport for me.” 

Latos, who grew up in Wichita and attended the University of Kansas, originally thought she would have a career in nursing.

“I knew I wanted to go into health care, but I’d grown up playing sports my whole life. It was such a harsh change to all of a sudden not be playing sports,” she said. “One day, people from the athletic training program came into one of my classes and did a presentation on what athletic trainers do and I thought, ‘That sounds perfect,’ and here we are.”

She started working as an athletic trainer with hockey teams while she was still a student at KU and then again when she was pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Montana. After she graduated, Latos worked with the University of Maine’s women’s hockey team before taking the position with OSU Sports Medicine as the Oilers athletic trainer.

“I knew I wanted to work with a professional hockey team, that was my goal,” she said. “OSU’s been great. The doctors are fantastic; the staff is fantastic. The other three athletic trainers in town, we’re all close and get along.”

Rob Murray, Oilers coach and director of hockey operations, said Latos has been great to work with.

“It’s been seamless. Between Sara and I, communication is essential, especially our ability to communicate about injuries,” Murray said. “We have to work as a team. The medical staff and equipment staff, our relationship has to be friendly.”

For Latos, athletic trainers are a vital part of the team. 

“I think they’re the glue of the team, they hold the team together. You have the players and you have the coaches and they have to work together. And then you have your trainers and with hockey specifically, you have equipment managers and they’re very much that middle piece that goes between the two that act as a bridge,” she said. “We’re very important in that sense of keeping the teams together.”

Building that trust among the players and coaches is also essential for an athletic trainer.

“Athletic trainers are the ones who keep us healthy and keep us playing,” said Duggie Lagrone, a defenseman who is playing his fourth season with the Oilers. “Sara is very good. She always takes our input and gives us all the medical options available and takes our feedback seriously.”

Latos said she feels like she’s not only an athletic trainer, but sometimes even fills the role of parent or counselor.

“They don’t call me mom, but boy, do I feel like it, and I don’t mind that part of it. I try and tell the guys, ‘I’m here if you need to talk,’” she said, adding that an important part of her role is to offer support.

“I’ve always felt like playing a sport, whether that’s collegiately or professionally, is tough. At the end of the day, this is a job for these guys. Being injured sucks enough, so I try to keep things light. I try to keep things fun and as easy for them as I can. I try to make this as comfortable an environment as I can.”