SOCHI, Russia – I made it, Liz.
To the Olympics. To the gold-medal game. Against Canada, of course.
And you're here with me in spirit. With me always. I never forget.
That's the message behind the jersey that Lyndsey Fry has carried with her for the past year in her quest to become the first native Arizonan to make the U.S. Olympic women's hockey team. It was a journey she hoped to make with her friend, Liz Turgeon, her teammate on the Colorado Select junior women's team when she began her climb to higher-level hockey.
Pierre Turgeon, who played 19 seasons in the NHL, was the Colorado Select coach. His family became Lyndsey's surrogate family in Denver, and Liz like her sister. They played together on the U.S. under-18 team, propelling them to college hockey: Lyndsey at Harvard and Liz at Minnesota.
But Liz never got that chance. Driving in dense fog near Vaughn, N.M., two nights before Christmas 2010, Turgeon failed to stop at an intersection and crashed into a semi-tractor trailer. The 18-year-old died at the scene of the collision, and life inexorably changed for her family and close friends.
"I didn't have to deal with that until I was probably 40 years old," said Doug Fry, Lyndsey's father. "There were so many things they wanted to do together. They were supposed to go to the Olympics together."
Fry's grief slowly morphed into inspiration. She made All-Ivy League second team as a sophomore and junior at Harvard and progressed onto the national team that won a gold medal at the 2013 World Championships. Not long after, someone at USA Hockey called Fry saying they had come across a Liz Turgeon No. 23 jersey in a Colorado Springs warehouse and wondering if she knew how to deliver it to the Turgeons.
Instead, Fry asked Pierre and his wife, Elisabeth, if she could honor Liz by keeping the jersey with her during her school year off from Harvard to try for the Olympic team.
"I was touched by that," Elisabeth Turgeon told USA Hockey magazine. "I'm sure Liz would want that. It shows that they haven't forgotten about her. Hopefully it brings her luck."
Turgeon's jersey was hanging in the U.S. locker room on Monday during a 6-1 Olympic semifinal win over Sweden and will be there again Thursday with the gold medal on the line against Canada.
"Taking a look at it before I throw it in my backpack before I come here, then being able to hang it in the Olympic locker room as we're about to play a semifinal game (is special)," Fry said.
"It reminds me every day how hard I've worked and how much her memory has been there with me – and, again, the promise that we made to each other. To be able to remind myself that I've kept it is the best feeling in the world."
The Turgeons were in Boston with their youngest daughter, Valerie, for a hockey tournament just before the Olympics and spent time with Fry.
"It was really cool. I didn't even know they were coming," said Fry, 21, of Chandler. "We had a scrimmage one morning and that was the first time they've ever seen me, in person, in my USA jersey. So that was a really special moment. They're a second family to me."
Canada beat the U.S. 3-2 in a preliminary game Feb. 12 and is the three-time defending Olympic gold medalist. The rivalry is real and intense with fights breaking out twice during lead-up games to these Olympics. There certainly is no guarantee of a U.S. victory. Fry, a forward, likely will play some Thursday although not big minutes on a team with veteran Olympians.
Regardless of gold or silver, Fry did what she set out to do – make the Olympics, and the best she could to bring Liz Turgeon along with her.
"It just shows Lyndsey's inner spirit and what she is really all about," said her mother, Lynne. "She really follows through on what she says she's going to do. She's always so driven with whatever she's passionate about and such a good friend. Sometimes you can't teach that loyalty to your children."
"Liz has been a big part of our lives and will continue to be," Doug Fry said. "This will forever keep the Turgeons and the Frys together."
Bryce Miller of the Des Moines Register contributed to this report.
