Being face to face with a fire, tackling its heat and jumping from the sky to control the flames, wouldn't scare Jess Pollard one bit. But you know what does? Spiders. 

Despite the arachnophobia, Jess has always been fearless, as well as ambitious, especially during her career as a hockey player. 

Jess is currently a forward on the Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold women's hockey team and is in her third year of Occupational Health and Safety.

She wasn't always a hockey player. Once upon a time, Jess was in gymnastics, but the one sport calling to her was hockey. 

"I remember it vividly. I was at my hometown rink in Milton, and I was in gymnastics, and my brother was playing hockey in the rink down the hall, I just remember having a meltdown because I didn't want to be in gymnastics. I wanted to go and play hockey like my brother." 

Jess's older brother Jacob was a big inspiration to her, inspiring her to play hockey at the age of five. 
 

"She went up to my parents' room wearing all of my hockey equipment, and in the middle of the night, she woke up my dad to ask him if she could go practice and shoot pucks in the basement. From there, she was eat, sleep, breathe, hockey," said Jacob.

Jess continued to climb the ladder, moving from Timbits league, to double A, to juniors and now to U SPORTS with TMU.

For most of her hockey career, Jess was grateful to have experienced it while her mom was still with her. 

When Jess was 15 years old, she played for coach Taylor Abbott who coached the U18 Hamilton Hawks. He remembers Jess as a talented and driven player, who they'd call up many times before she permanently moved to the U18 team.

"Her favourite place was the arena. She was always in a good mood. Teammates loved her, [she] worked super hard and was essentially willing to do whatever a coach would ask her," said Abbott.

Having a coach to rely on is important for any athlete, and Jess more than appreciated Coach Abbott's support. 

"[Coach] Abbott is probably one of the best coaches that I've ever had in terms of helping me develop as a person and as a player. I learned a lot from him because I was young and he trusted me to help his team, which helped to build my confidence in the game."

Near the end of 2021, Jess was noticed by her future coaches Lisa Haley and Haley Irwin.

"Coach Lisa and Coach Irwin were at a tournament in Kitchener. That's when I think they first saw me play right before Christmas time, they saw me play as a forward," added Jess. 

The coaches at TMU then made an offer to Jess, and she immediately accepted. 

Jess has played a total of 17 games with TMU, mainly being limited by injuries such as concussions and shattering her thumb in the first shift of her first game back last year.

"Being on this team is such a privilege, I know that there are so many other athletes and hockey players that would kill for the spot that I'm in," said Jess, who is still very grateful for this opportunity.
 

Jess has spent her summers in Toronto, working in the athletics gym facility, and continuing to train.

As difficult as it was to not be able to play, Jess still managed to make the best of her time living in a new city, coming from a smaller city, Milton, Ont.

When picking her major for university, her final choice wasn't originally on her radar.

"This one was my third choice, the other two were psychology and biomedical science. But I am super thankful that I chose occupational health and safety of the three I just think it sets me up better for my future." 

Since she was in the sixth grade, Jess has known exactly what she wants to be, and it definitely won't involve spiders. Jess hopes to become a firefighter and is currently in the process of pursuing this goal.

"If she has something on her mind, it will be done. So I support her decision fully," said Jacob. 

Jess has always found firefighters to be the coolest kind of people on the planet, and she is the kind of person who will risk it all to help anyone in need. 

"I would love to, while I'm still young, go and do wildland firefighting out in British Columbia and Alberta. I'm planning on dipping my toes into that a little bit next summer with the Ontario Fire Ranger Program." 

While still planning on finishing her degree, building her application to join this program has been a priority. This will include physical tests and meeting a nationwide standard to go out West. 

"I have this weird obsession right now with the helitack firefighting; where you jump out of the helicopter into fire," Jess added. 

The aspiration to become a firefighter comes with many reasons, and Jess hopes to spread help and kindness throughout her career to everyone.

"I always thought of [firefighters] as people that help regardless of the situation. They will run into a fire to go and save someone else's life, a stranger's life," said Jess.

Jess has been instilled with the idea of helping others since she was young. Her mother had a neurological disease called Huntington's. Since it is a genetic disease, Jess and Jacob had to be aware of it at a young age.

"It's a neurological illness that eats away at your brain. It's like a mixture of Parkinson's, MS and dementia, where you just kind of lose everything, like motor function, the ability to speak, recalling certain things. All her movements went away," Jess explained. 

It was never easy trying to explain to her friends what she and her family were going through. 

"It's hard when you grow up with someone who's terminally ill. It's hard to have friends that understand. Big shout out to my dad, who was always there," Jess explained.
 

But even when they were little, their mother Andrea still found ways to make special memories with her children. 

"I would hide under blankets on the couch, and not move, it just looked like a pile of blankets. And she would come down the stairs and I could see her out of the blanket. And I would try to scare her every morning, and I got her sometimes, but most of the time she knew I was there."

Jacob and Jess were forced to grow up more educated about Huntington's and what It would continue to do to their mother as they got older. 

"I understood it a little better than Jess did when we were kids. For me, I spent my whole life preparing for it. I've always been ready, you never really knew when that was gonna happen," said Jacob.

Jess's coaches were aware of her mother's condition, and as Jess got older, she knew that their time together would be limited. 

"It just kind of progressed as her life went on. We got her into an assisted living facility when I was in the seventh grade and she was there for all of my high school, first-year university, and the gap year. She was there for a very long time, and she battled so hard," Jess explained. 

About a year ago, Jess and the women's hockey team were on their way to North Bay, Ont. to play a game against Nipissing. As they were arriving, Jess received a phone call that would change everything. 

"I got a call on the bus as soon as we pulled into the hotel parking lot that I needed to go and say my goodbyes to my mom."

The team bus driver and Coach Irwin then drove her to Barrie, Ont., and Jess later got picked up by her dad. 

"I missed those games, and then I got so much support from the coaching staff and my teammates. Everyone was so supportive of me, and like to help is, like, obviously, that's a big thing to go through as someone who's in university, and it's hard losing a parent."

The Pollard family has been grieving the loss of their mother Andrea for the past year, and it hasn't been easy, and on the day of her passing, Jess, Jacob and their dad spent the day together in Toronto.

"I didn't process my mom's passing until recently in the last few months," said Jacob. "Jess was visibly upset, but she's just like me, she didn't act like she was upset, she acted totally okay."

"I chose to deal with the passing by playing hockey," explained Jess. "I remember getting the news that she passed and deciding to go to practice that day, that's how I cope. I know my mom would want me to continue playing, so I do." 

While balancing grief, school, and the schedule of a student-athlete, Jess had a lot on her plate, but the one thing that stayed consistent was her love for the game. 

"The nice thing about sport is it's probably one of the places where you can check out get a two-hour skate and have a clear mind. It's pretty tough to be out on the rink and playing a game and thinking about tough things in your life," said Abbott. 

Jess and her brother continue to honour their mother, who they described as full of life and kindness. 

"I try and be kind, you genuinely have no idea what someone's going through. They could be struggling with mental health. They could be struggling with ill loved ones. They could be ill themselves. You never know what anyone is going through because no one's story is going to be the same," Jess added. 

This past year has been one of the hardest years for Jess, dealing with injury and grief has taken her away from a sport that brings her peace.

In the last few months, Jess has worked towards getting back on the ice and is back in the lineup alongside her team.

"Support is one of the best things that you can do. It's part of the reason I want to be a firefighter," said Jess who, under all this grief, hopes to spread kindness and care to those around her. 

"I'm always going to be that person that will answer the call, will sacrifice my time to make sure someone else is okay," Jess added.

In the Bold's upcoming game on November 30, the women's hockey team will dedicate the game to Jess's mom and attempt to raise money for The Huntington Society of Canada. 

Her family will perform a ceremonial puck drop to honour her mother, and the team will continue to wear  Huntington patches on their helmets, as they have every game since last season. 

Jess Pollard has dealt with a lot in the last year and has prepared for it her entire life. Behind it all, she continues to smile and spread joy among others, in memory and honour of her mom.