Beloved NHL Reporter Dies In House Fire That Also Killed Her 3 Children

WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN — Minnesota’s professional hockey community is mourning Jessi Pierce, a beloved sports reporter who spent the last decade covering the Wild. Pierce and her three children were killed over the weekend in a house fire in White Bear Lake, according to reports.

“The Minnesota Wild organization is heartbroken by the tragic loss of Jessi Pierce and her children,” the team said in a statement Sunday. “Jessi was a kind, compassionate person that cared deeply about her family and those around her. She served as a dedicated ambassador for the game of hockey during her time covering the Wild and the NHL.”

Emergency personnel responded around 5:30 a.m. Saturday to the blaze in the 2100 block of Richard Avenue after neighbors called 911 and reported fire coming through the roof of the house, according to the White Bear Lake Fire Department. An adult, three children and a dog were found dead inside, the department reported, adding the Minnesota State Fire Marshal’s Office will investigate the source of the blaze.

The NHL reported Sunday that 37-year-old Pierce and her children had died in a Saturday morning house fire.

"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,” the league said in a prepared statement. “Jessi loved our game and was a valued member of the NHL.com team for a decade. We will miss her terribly.”

A longtime correspondent for the NHL, Pierce also worked as a contributing writer for The Athletic and an editor for B1G Ice Hockey Blog over the course of her career, according to her LinkedIn profile. She studied journalism and mass communication at Iowa State University, where she covered sports for the Iowa State Daily.

Michael Russo, who covers the Wild for The Athletic, in a post on X described Pierce as “the most vibrant person - the life of the party, always with a smile on her face.”

"The press box and press room won’t be the same without her," Russo wrote. "It’ll be a lot quieter, a lot less funny. But her passion and joy for covering this hockey team and sport will remain."