Beloved hockey reporter Jessi Pierce shared heartbreaking photos of her final outing with her three children to their favorite ice cream stand just one day before they all died in a house fire.
Pierce, 37, her three children, and a dog were all found dead in the aftermath of a devastating fire at their home in Minnesota’s White Bear Lake on Saturday.
On Friday, Pierce and her kids — identified by fellow hockey writer Michael Russo as Hudson, Cayden and Avery — dropped by the Cup and Cone, a family-owned ice cream stand, for dessert.
The local landmark celebrated its 53rd opening day on Friday.
The line stretched down the sidewalk, but Pierce’s children waited patiently and were eventually rewarded with sprinkle-laden ice cream — and a sub sandwich from an adjacent stand.
“bag(s) secured,” Pierce captioned in her last post on X.
In the pictures, Pierce’s children beamed while they devoured their long-awaited treats. Pierce’s daughter and one son both wore mismatched socks. Her daughter’s leggings were scuffed with dirt — a sure sign of a fun-filled day with her family.
Meanwhile, her other son munched on a sub sandwich even as slices of cheese dangled precariously out the other end.
The National Hockey League confirmed Pierce and her children’s passing on Saturday.
“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 NHL said in a statement. “Jessi loved our game and was a valued member of the NHL.com team for a decade. We will miss her terribly.”
Pierce covered the Minnesota Wild for NHL.com for the last 10 seasons. She also spent time working for the team and previously wrote for The Athletic. She was a co-host of the Bardown Beauties podcast.
The Iowa State grad also wrote for USA Hockey, the Minnesota Hockey Journal and Massachusetts Hockey, among other publications, per NHL.com.
She is survived by her husband, Mike, according to Russo.
Strangers, friends, and colleagues alike posted tributes for Pierce, with many linking back to the final snapshot of her happy family.
“Jessi Pierce (Hinrichs) was the most vibrant person – the life of the party, always with a smile on her face, always bringing a passion to every article and podcast and interview she did. Jessi simply loved covering the Wild and hockey throughout Minnesota and had a way of brightening everyone’s day with her upbeat, bubbly personality. I have literally NEVER met anybody that had a way of being EVERYBODY’s friend,” Michael Russo, who covers the Wild for The Athletic, wrote on X.
“From a [Minnesota Wild] practice in the morning to enjoying ice cream with her kids in the afternoon, if there is any solace in this tragedy, it’s that Jessi’s last day was spent doing the things she loved most—covering hockey and being a mom. The rink will never be the same without her smile, her humor, and her passion for the game. There was never a moment that wasn’t made better by her presence,” Minnesota Wild Broadcast Engineer Zach Halverson wrote on X.