Jessi Pierce, a long-time Minnesota hockey reporter whose work became familiar to fans of the NHL and the Minnesota Wild, died alongside her three young children in a house fire in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, in the early hours of Saturday morning, a loss that has sent shockwaves through the state’s hockey community and far beyond. Pierce was 37. Fire officials said crews were called to a single-family home on the 2100 block of Richard Avenue at about 5:25 a.m. after neighbours reported flames coming through the roof. When firefighters arrived, the house was fully involved. An adult, three children and a dog were found inside, and all were pronounced dead. Authorities have said the cause of the blaze remains under investigation, though preliminary findings had not produced evidence that the fire was set intentionally.
The victims were later identified by the NHL and local media as Pierce and her children Hudson, Cayden and Avery. Her husband, Mike Hinrichs, was not at home when the fire broke out. In a statement carried by CBS Minnesota, he said: “Jessi was beautiful, vibrant, and full of life – she lit up every room she walked into and made everyone feel welcome. She left a lasting mark on everyone lucky enough to know her.” The White Bear Lake Fire Department, in a statement quoted by local and national outlets, said: “Our hearts ache for all those involved in this tragedy,” while Fire Chief Greg Peterson asked for space for the community to come together and support one another.
Pierce had become one of the most recognisable media figures around the Wild over the past decade. The NHL said she had been part of the NHL.com team for 10 seasons, while colleagues described her as a constant presence around the rink, whether working in the press box, filing stories, recording podcasts or speaking with players and staff. NHL.com wrote that Pierce loved hockey with the same intensity she had for her family and for life in general. In its formal statement, the league said: “The entire National Hockey League family sends our prayers and deepest condolences to the Pierce family on the passing of Jessi Pierce and her three young children. Jessi loved our game and was a valued member of the NHL.com team for a decade. We will miss her terribly.”
Her work stretched well beyond a single outlet. Alongside her NHL.com reporting, Pierce co-hosted the Bardown Beauties podcast and had bylines or appearances across a wide range of hockey publications and broadcasts. NHL.com said her work appeared in outlets including USA Hockey, The Athletic, the Minnesota Hockey Journal, Massachusetts Hockey and the B1G Ice Hockey blog. It also noted that she had first spoken about becoming an NHL writer when she was 18, and that the path there was not straightforward, taking her through different cities and different roles before she established herself as a respected voice covering her hometown team. A graduate of Iowa State University, she built a career that blended traditional reporting, digital media, podcasting and a strong social media presence, making her familiar to fans not only as a journalist but as a personality within Minnesota sport.
Here last post on social media was heartbreaking:
Much of the grief expressed since her death has centred not only on her work, but on the way colleagues say she made people feel. Bill Price, vice-president and editor-in-chief of NHL.com, said the entire NHL.com team was “devastated and heartbroken” and added that “Jessi’s love of her family and hockey was evident in the energy and passion she brought to her work for us.” Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin said: “Words just can’t express how devasted we all are,” adding that the hockey world, whether media, players, coaches or management, shares the same sense of loss. The Wild said Pierce “served as a dedicated ambassador for the game of hockey” during her time covering the team and the wider league.
Players and coaches who knew her also described someone whose warmth was obvious from the moment she entered a room. Nashville Predators coach Andrew Brunette said he had known Pierce for a long time and called her “a wonderful person” who “loved hockey, loved people,” adding that her passion for the game and for the Wild was “unsurpassed”. Wild captain Jared Spurgeon said: “If you ever met her, you just feel the energy around her,” remembering her smile and the times she brought her children into the dressing room while balancing work and family life. Marcus Foligno said the sense of devastation around the team had been immediate, with people still struggling to process the news. Those recollections have helped shape the public picture of Pierce in the days since the fire, as both a committed reporter and an intensely proud mother.
That combination of professional drive and family devotion has run through nearly every tribute. NHL.com said Pierce would sometimes arrive at practice with one of her young children on her hip, merging reporting and motherhood in a way that made an impression on colleagues. CBS Minnesota quoted her Bardown Beauties co-host Kirsten Krull, who said Pierce was like “another big sister” and praised her confidence, work ethic and “huge heart”. Danny Hendrickson of the Hendrickson Foundation, which supports athletes with disabilities who play hockey, said Pierce had brought “so much positive energy” to its annual hockey festival over the last decade and was someone who truly cared about other people. These accounts have portrayed a woman whose professional life was closely tied to community, and whose death has left an absence that many around Minnesota hockey say will be hard to fill.
The final public glimpses of Pierce’s family life have only deepened the sense of heartbreak. People reported that on the day before the fire, Pierce posted photographs of her children enjoying an outing, including one image of them with ice cream, with the caption: “Bag(s) secured.” Friends, colleagues and supporters have since rallied around Hinrichs, with a fundraiser launched to help cover funeral costs and support him in the aftermath of the tragedy. By Monday, the campaign had already raised a substantial sum. Even as those practical efforts gathered pace, the investigation into the fire continued, with officials stressing that the cause had not yet been determined. For many in Minnesota, though, the immediate focus has remained not on unanswered questions but on the scale of the loss: a reporter whose energy made her a fixture around the rink, and three children whose lives ended alongside hers in a catastrophe that has left a community in mourning.
