Week 70: Olympian Lyndsey Fry
So often when I write this column, our subjects are dedicated stories of early Chandler. However, Chandler residents are making history even today, and our story today is one of those. The Arizona desert is one of the last places in the world that one would expect a world class winter sport athlete to call home. Despite temperatures that rarely dip below the freezing mark, hockey star Lyndsey Fry built an Olympic career in Chandler.
Lyndsey began her hockey career playing for the Chandler Polar Bears at the Chandler Ice Den. She quickly became a leader on the ice, where she was a 4-time team captain. At the same time, she began attending USA Hockey development camps. Competing against the best young hockey players in the nation, Lyndsey earned camp All-Star honors and caught the attention of coaches in the USA Hockey youth system.
Lyndsey had a stellar career playing in the youth levels of USA Hockey. She got her first taste of playing for the national team in 2008, when she competed in the Under-16 World Championships. The team brought home the bronze medal. The next year she moved up to the Team USA Under-19 AAA national team. Over the next two years, she brought home bronze medals from the Under 19 World Championships. Lyndsey also earned a spot on the Under-18 US Women’s National Hockey Team, earning a gold medal at the 2009 Under 18 World Championships and a silver medal the following year.
As the sport demanded more of her time, Lyndsey was faced with a tough decision – should be put more emphasis on hockey or school? She had begun high school at Corona del Sol, but increased ice time for training plus more travel time were making it increasingly difficult to maintain the traditional school schedule. She made the unique decision to attend online high school in order to continue her education both on and off the ice. The decision paid off, as she was able to spend the necessary time training and also graduated as the Valedictorian of her Arizona Connections Academy class. It paid off in other ways, too, as Lyndsey with her academic successes was accepted into Harvard University.
Harvard presented a new set of challenges, but Lyndsey was able to overcome them all. She led all freshman on the team in plus/minus ratings – a statistic used to measure the number of goals a team scores while a player is on the ice against how many goals the team allows. Her sophomore and junior seasons were even better as she scored 38 goals and racked up 40 assists while earning all-conference honors. She was also finding her stride with the senior national team, scoring her first goal with the team in the 2012 Four Nations Cup, and helping the team win the gold medal at the 2013 World Championships. But the following year, 2014, was shaping up to be the biggest one yet for Lyndsey.
As USA Hockey prepared for the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, they held a training camp with a large pool of players to be considered for the Olympic team. In preparation for this camp, Lyndsey had already decided to take the year off from Harvard in order to focus on this opportunity. Competition was stiff, but as camp progressed and more cuts were made Lyndsey found herself competing for one of the final roster spots. Shortly before Christmas in 2013 she learned that she had made the team and was going to Sochi.
Team USA got a tough Olympic draw, placed in a group with perennial powerhouses Canada, Finland, and Switzerland. The Americans beat Finland and shut out Switzerland. A narrow loss to rival Canada in the final group stage game proved meaningless, as the teams had already clinched semifinal berths. Both Team USA and Canada won their semifinal games setting up a rematch of the 2013 World Championship Gold Medal game.
The Olympic Gold Medal game was an instant classic that many people will remember. Team USA pulled ahead 2-0 before a furious late game comeback by Canada sent the game to overtime, where the Canadians prevailed. Team USA took home the silver medal, but won many fans across the country for their gritty, intense play. Lyndsey played in all 5 games of the tournament, including the decisive gold medal game.
After the Olympics, Lyndsey returned to Harvard for her senior season. She led the team to the 2015 Frozen Four where they finished as national runners up to heavily favored Minnesota. Shortly after the Frozen Four, Lyndsey announced her retirement from competitive hockey.