Just months after winning Olympic gold in Milan, O'Fallon native Joy Dunne is back on home ice this weekend, passing along what she's learned to the next generation of girls hockey players. She and her sister Jincy Dunne, herself an Olympic silver medalist, are serving as mentors at the 2026 Girls Tier 1 Ice Breaker Invitational, running Friday through Sunday at Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights.
The tournament, hosted by the St. Louis Blues, brings together nine teams from five of the nation's top Tier 1 girls hockey programs, according to KSDK. As reported by NHL.com, this year's event expands on its 2025 debut by adding 14U Tier 1 divisions to the returning 12U programs, combining round-robin competition with off-ice personal and athletic development. Visiting clubs include the Carolina Jr. Canes, Arizona Kachinas, Vegas Jr. Golden Knights, and Milwaukee Jr. Admirals, joining the local St. Louis AAA Lady Blues on the ice.
A Homecoming for a Newly Minted Champion
Joy Dunne, at 20 years old, was the youngest player on the U.S. women's national ice hockey team when Team USA beat Canada 2-1 in overtime to capture Olympic gold in Milan on February 20, per NHL.com's reporting. She recorded two goals and three assists during the 2026 Winter Games. Before her Olympic breakthrough, Dunne earned 2024 National Rookie of the Year honors at Ohio State and scored the game-winning goal in that year's national championship game, leading the Buckeyes to the NCAA women's hockey title.
Her return to O'Fallon comes just over a week after a considerably more formal honor: President Trump hosted Dunne and teammate Abbey Murphy at a White House reception celebrating Team USA's 57 total Milano Cortina medals, an event that brought together nearly half of Team USA's 2026 Olympians and Paralympians, as Hoodline previously reported.
A Family Built on the Ice
Jincy Dunne, who now plays under the name Jincy Roese, won silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and plays defense in the PWHL for the Minnesota Frost. The Frost acquired her in a trade from the New York Sirens in March, and she scored a playoff overtime game-winner in May, according to reporting from the North Shore News. She was originally drafted in the third round of the 2023 PWHL Draft.
The Dunnes' hockey pedigree runs deep. All six siblings in the O'Fallon family — Jessica, Jincy, Josh, Josey, James, and Joy — played elite or college hockey, NHL.com notes. Brother Josh Dunne made his NHL debut in 2021 with the Columbus Blue Jackets and played for Buffalo before signing with the Washington Capitals in July.
Elite Mentors and a Growing Local Program
Joy and Jincy Dunne aren't the only decorated names on the ice this weekend. The tournament's roster of professional mentors also includes fellow U.S. Olympic medalists Alex Cavallini, Brianna Decker, and Megan Ferguson, along with PWHL star Abby Roque, per NHL.com. Off-ice enrichment for the young players includes nutrition programming, leadership training, and an Enterprise-sponsored Women in Sports panel.
The Invitational is the latest milestone for the St. Louis Blues Girls Hockey Development Program, which launched as an NHL All-Star Legacy initiative in 2020. Since then, local female participation has grown from just over 100 girls to nearly 500 players in the 2025-26 season, fueled by initiatives like Little Blues, North City Blues, and Try Hockey for Free, according to the NHL.com report.
All of it plays out at the Centene Community Ice Center, the $83 million public-private facility that opened in Maryland Heights in September 2019. Funded through a partnership between the city of Maryland Heights, St. Louis County, and the Blues, the four-rink complex serves as the team's official practice facility and now doubles as a proving ground for the region's rising girls hockey talent.
