Former Cedar Rapids RoughRiders player Nick Saracino will be an Olympian

CEDAR RAPIDS - He was sworn to secrecy, wasn’t allowed to share with anyone.

Man, that was tough.

Nick Saracino found out in a very round-about way in early December that he would be playing hockey in the upcoming Winter Olympics. The former Cedar Rapids RoughRiders winger is in his fourth season as a professional player in Italy, has obtained dual citizenship and can represent the country at international events.

He broke a rib in a game with his club team five days before he was supposed to join other players for a four-nations event in Budapest, Hungary, that he thought would go a long way in determining if he had a chance to be named to the Italian Olympic team. Crestfallen because he was sure he’d blown that chance, he got a phone call from Italy’s head coach.

Don’t worry, go rest and heal. He’d made it.

“A lot of excitement and joy. I think I said thank you 100 times on the phone, and it was great and lucky,” Saracino said this week from his in-season residence in Bruneck, Italy. “My parents were actually here visiting me at the time, so they kind of got to enjoy it with me there at the start. But I was really the only one who knew that I was on the team, or knew he had made the team besides the first six that they announced (early) with every other country.

“And then, you know, the rosters were supposed to be submitted by December 31, but Italy didn't announce theirs. I think we were the last team to announce. It was a tough secret to keep for so long. But we made it. Here we are.”

The 33-year-old Saracino played for the RoughRiders for two seasons (2010-11 and 2011-12), won a NCAA championship with Providence in 2015 and turned pro after four seasons with the Friars. He played five seasons in North America in the American Hockey League and ECHL, including a stint with the Iowa Wild in Des Moines.

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Then came an opportunity to play in Europe. He joined Svolen HKM in Slovakia for the 2021-22 season, with his agent then telling him with his heritage that he should look into trying to get dual citizenship so he could have a better chance to play professionally and internationally in Italy.

Most European clubs have a limited number of spots for “import” players, with Saracino now not considered one. He played parts of three seasons with Asiago HC and part of one with Bolzano HC.

This season he is with the Val Pusteria Wolves of the International Central European Hockey League. ICE Hockey, as it’s called, consists of eight teams from Austria, two from Hungary, one from Slovenia and two from Italy.

“It was like a good three, four-year process of finding all the documents I needed and learning about family history and all that, then finally applying for citizenship. I got that done last year,” Saracino said. “Then once you get that, you have to play in Italy for 16 months to be qualified by the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) to be eligible for the Olympic team or for the national team.

“It’s been 16 months, so I was eligible, and I’ve found a good spot here. I've been enjoying it. Things have worked out.”

Saracino is the seventh former RoughRider to be an Olympian. Sergei Kolosov was the first in 2010 for Belarus, then in 2022 four former Riders played on the United States team: Andy Miele, Nathan Smith, Marc McLaughlin and Justin Abdelkader. Freddy Tiffels has played for Germany’s Olympic team before and will do so again in February.

“I'm in the middle of a season right now with the club team. We’ve been playing, and obviously our season's kind of been condensed because we have an Olympic break, and I’ve still got two more games with them here,” Saracino said. “Before that, I've been trying to stay in the moment and focus on this team.

“But I will say the last couple of weeks have been definitely a little tough to keep in mind. It's always in the back of your head. In talking to some players before me that have been to the Olympics, they said that the opening ceremonies, that’s when it's like, ‘Wow, you actually made it here,’ and you get really excited. You understand how special a moment it is.”

These Olympics will be even more special with NHL players participating. It will literally be the world’s best minus Russia, which is not allowed to participate.

Italy’s first game is Feb. 12 against Sweden, with Finland and Slovakia also in the same preliminary group. Saracino said he’ll have 20 to 25 family members making the trip to Milan to root him on.

It’s a heck of a story for a guy whose hockey journey included being in little old Cedar Rapids, Iowa, some 14 years ago.

“I still kind of follow Cedar Rapids,” Saracino said. “Coach (Mark) Carlson reached out to me recently. That was nice to hear from him. And they have a great organization there. So yeah, it's kind of crazy. It's been kind of a long time since I've been there, but it doesn't feel like it.”

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