NHL reporter Jessi Pierce and her three children were killed Saturday in a weekend house fire in Minnesota, the league announced Sunday. Pierce, 37, covered the Minnesota Wild as the correspondent for NHL.com for the past decade.
“The entire NHL.com team is devastated and heartbroken by the loss of Jessi and her children,” said Bill Price, vice president and editor-in-chief of NHL.com, in a statement. “Jessi’s love of her family and hockey was evident in the energy and passion she brought to her work for us. She was an absolute joy to talk to and work with. She will be deeply missed.”
Wild writer for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Jess Myers, told the WCCO Morning News that hearing Pierce had died was like getting hit with a sledge hammer
"You can't even fathom, not only the horrific idea of a family loss like that, but then someone that we all knew so well," Myers described. "Jessi was just one of those people who brought a smile to every practice, to every game, funny, friendly, always helpful, always willing to pitch in and, you know, do what was needed."
Firefighters responded to a house fire Saturday morning in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. Neighbors called 911 and reported seeing flames coming through the roof. Fire crews located an adult, three children and a dog inside the house and all were deceased, the White Bear Lake Fire Department said. The department did not release the names of the victims in its statement Saturday.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“Out hearts ache for those involved in this tragedy. We ask for the opportunity to allow our community to come together and support one another during this difficult time,” Fire Chief Greg Peterson said in the statement.
Myers said even though technically, the reporters that cover the Wild should be "competitors," it never felt that way, calling it more of a family. Which makes the loss of Pierce so devastating.
"But all of that stuff was secondary in her life to her being a mom and her three children, and she was very active on social media," Myers explains. "And I would say more than half of the stuff she posted was taking her kids to a nature center, or taking them up to Rainy Lake to see family, or it seems like there would be some fun activity that they would be doing every day. That was just such a huge, huge part of her life."
The Minnesota Wild mourned her loss on social media Sunday.
“Jessi was a kind, compassionate person that cared deeply about her family and those around her. She served as an ambassador for the game of hockey during her time covering the Wild and the NHL,” the social media post said.
Minnesota is known as the “State of Hockey,” and the Wild have had one of the biggest fan bases since their inception in 2000. The North Stars had moved to Dallas to become the Stars in the early 1990s.
