09/16/2026
Welcome to our New Series!
🏒 "Wayha Wednesday Why" 🏒 where we'll share information every Wednesday on the families that make up Wayha.
⭐️ First up is Zac & Chrissy and their daughters Fiona and Fallon.
💙 Wayha is lucky to have you!
🔹️Why did your family decide to give hockey a try?
Fiona has always been fierce and I wanted her involved in a more physical sport. I come from a wrestling family and my husband wrestled. I assumed it was the next sport until Zac told me his daughter wasn't wrestling boys. Shortly after this conversation, I was in the waiting room at gymnastics and heard some guy talking about hockey. I would later find out it was coach Eric A and Fiona has been playing ever since.
🔹️How has being part of WAYHA impacted your family outside the rink?
We came to WAYHA not knowing a thing about hockey and not knowing a soul since we live in New London. The parents and kids that welcomed us in are now like family to us. We miss our hockey family as soon as the season is over and we look forward to our off season adventures. Zac and I have become very involved with the program as team manager, coach, WAYHA board, tournament director, running the golf outing and fundraising committee. We feel it's important as a family to give back and keep WAYHA alive for years to come and help get the word out to families outside of just the Waupaca area. So, WAYHA is part of our daily routine for most of the year.
🔹️What's the craziest thing your family has done because of hockey?
We were told from the beginning that hockey never cancels. We didn't really believe it until we had games at Tricounty at 8am in the middle of a snow storm. Some "seasoned" families came down the night before and stayed at a hotel. We woke up without electricity and drove through the most terrible storm and roads that I've been on. Since then, we've had several away tournaments that started out with snow storms which turned into carpooling and caravanning to the rink. Hockey never cancels...except for that one storm in Eagle River where we were snowed in for days with some of our favorite hockey friends!!!
🔹️Why do you think volunteering matters to a youth hockey organization?
Volunteering in general is a way to give back to the organization and keep the passion alive. It's even more important for WAYHA because we own our own rink. This is very unique in the hockey world. We control what happens at our rink, but that also adds responsibility to parents to help out so our kids can keep skating. We're financially responsible to keep the rink going and keep WAYHA alive and volunteering helps do that while keeping our prices low. Volunteering has also created some of our strongest friendships.
🔹️What is your favorite hockey memory?
The away tournaments are full of memories for the adults and kids. Fiona loves the team bonding which includes swimming, jumping in the snow in their swim suits then back into the pool, knee hockey, nerf gun wars, going out to eat, and ding-dong-ditch with the opposing teams. There are never enough away tournaments in her eyes.
