Winter Olympics: Team Fry Roots on U.S. Women’s Hockey and its Favorite Player

By Hayli Goode | BSU at the Games

Wesley Fry walked into his family’s Chandler, Ariz., living room on Christmas Eve dressed as Santa Claus.

His sister, Lyndsey, who pretended to be the elf passing out gifts, followed him.

The annual family skit was going as usual, but then came the deviation.

Lyndsey decided to use the skit to surprise her family with some big news.

From Santa’s bag, she pulled out a scroll with the words Team Fry emblazoned across it.

Lyndsey "was like, ‘Wait! I’m not Team Fry. My family is Team Fry. I don’t think this is for me.’ And then she turned it around and said, ‘We did it. We’re going to Sochi!’ and started playing the Olympic theme song,” said Lynne Fry, Lyndsey’s mother.

Lyndsey is a member of the U.S. Women's Hockey Team at the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. Just look for the 5-foot, 8-inch, 170-pound forward wearing No. 18.

“Oh, God! We were screaming and bawling and crying. It was fun,” said Marilyn Fry, Lyndsey’s grandmother.

Christmas Eve skits are a tradition for the Fry family, but it had never experienced one this dramatic.

A first-time Olympian, she is the first Arizona native to play hockey in the Winter Olympics. Because of that, she is having a huge impact on her community and is a fixture on news across the state.

Team Fry is now in Sochi: Lynne; father Doug; 18-year-old brother, Wesley; and friends, Laura Ross, Bob Lambert and Erin Wente.

However, all waited until after the last round-robin game on Feb. 12, a 3-2 loss to Canada, to gain some one-on-one time with Lyndsey for the first time in Russia.

Since, the U.S. defeated Sweden 6-1 in a semifinal on Monday at Shayba Arena.

Today, the U.S. plays Canada again in the gold-medal game.

In four games in the Olympics, Lyndsey has played 26 minutes and 21 seconds with three shots on goal for the veteran squad.

"They just want her to stay really, really focused," Lynne said of her daughter.

Currently enrolled at Harvard University and majoring in the history of science, she took the year off to concentrate on the Olympics.

“She’s going back to have a great last collegiate hockey year. And then, after that, it just depends," Lynne said.
"You know, we don’t really talk too much about it because she wants to enjoy this moment."

Her brother, a youth hockey player in Scottsdale, Ariz., is totally focused on his sister.

"We only can worry about what’s happening now," Wesley said.

The here and now includes cruising around Sochi and neighboring Adler on the family’s Frycycles, which is also Lyndsey’s Twitter handle. Besides supporting Lyndsey and Team USA, they have embraced the Olympics and attended other events such as figure skating.

“Her experience is so much different than ours. She’s going through so many more emotions,” Doug said. "So, it’s really been a neat blend of doing our own thing, but keeping her focused on what she needs to do and making her not worry about us."

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