#BetterEveryDay Takes a Community

The following was a letter sent with the team picture above to our sponsors last season for the 10U Flyers Squirt Select team. Thank you to LifeLoop, Nebraska Sign and Cover It, Commonwealth Electric and Wiese Plumbing. As we close the book on last year, some saying goodbye to old teammates who move up, we thank the community of Fremont and businesses in the area who helped the Fremont Flyers Squirts work toward being #BetterEveryDay and look I forward to keeping tabs on the 10U 2022-23 season from the stands.

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Dear Sponsors,

Thank you for your support and sponsorship of the Fremont Flyers 10U Squirt Select Team. We had a terrific season not only on the ice in the improvement of the kids’ hockey ability, but in creating a team of great humans. We had 17 kids, which consisted of two goalies, 10-11 forwards and 4-5 defenseman depending on the game.

We had the mantra of #BetterEveryDay which didn’t just mean on the ice, but being a better student, teammate, sibling, and son or daughter off the ice.

After every win, we carried the team tradition from 2020-21 of the chain, given to the player who worked hard, made a big impact in the game or was just a great teammate as deemed by the coaching staff. The chain had 17 links, one for each of them, as every game we needed 17 contributors. Defenseman Braxton Knop (right) is shown with the chain after a game this season.

That said, the season started with struggles. We began the season 0-8 against teams in our class. But through those eight losses, we shed tears, learned a lot about each other, and began to think about the team and our ultimate goal of being #BetterEveryDay (Flyer Triangle, below), more than our individual mistakes or accomplishments.?

We entered league play and played one of our best games of the season at home on Dec. 11, shutting out Omaha 2-0. A tournament in Mason City a week later ended with an 8-1 semi-final loss, but for the first time all season, the kids came in after the game with quiet confidence that they could beat that team given another chance.

Coming out of the Christmas break, we went to Brookings, SD, to defend a title we had won the year before. The message was simple; the book on last year was now closed. For the five veterans from last year, it was their new story to write. Their championships to win. We wrote four chapters of a new book that weekend and didn’t play our best in every game, but found a way to win by listening to the Good Wolf inside us that says WE can. We won the final 6-0 and left finally believing we could win as long as we trusted our teammates because ‘No One Wins Alone.’

We just kept finding ways to win. In the final regular season games we were down two of our forwards in Wichita and went 3-0-1 to finish first and donned our new jerseys thanks to your support. We then went 4-0 in playoffs to capture back-to-back league championships. The final game even went to Overtime and a shootout. We traveled to Kansas City shortly after and played in an “A” tournament for the first time.

The message was simple; we believe in you, you believe in each other, and no one else will decide how great you can be in hockey or life. You do! We played our absolute best hockey of the season and went 3-1 to finish third place.

We were on top of our game. After almost a month break, we finished the season with two A tournaments in Omaha and St. Louis to end the year at the beginning of March. Omaha was another teachable moment as we forgot about what it took to be successful. To stand up for each other and trust our teammates.?

We had a hard practice that next week to get ready for St. Louis and enjoyed a St. Louis Blues game the day before the tournament. Everything we talked about in the triangle came together in St. Louis and we finished 4-1 to win the tournament and end the season.?

• Overall Record: 29-16-1
• League Record: 10-0-1
• Tournament Record: 15-9

Thank you again for your support of the Fremont Flyers program. With your help, these kids at a young age are realizing the goal of being #BetterEveryDay and are seeing how hard work, their best effort, and being a good teammate is a key to success both in hockey and life.

Thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

The Fremont Flyers Hockey Association