Jincy Roese Calls Chance To Play In Hometown "By Far The Coolest" Of Her Accomplishments

O'Fallon, Mo. native, who's represented Team USA at the Olympic, World Championship level, captain of Ohio State, will play professional game in hometown for first time

ST. LOUIS -- Jincy (Dunne) Roese has accomplished plenty during her hockey-playing career.

From starting with the St. Louis Lady Blues U14 to representing the United States at the U18 World Junior Championship to the World Cup and Winter Olympics to becoming captain at Ohio State University and now playing professionally for the Ottawa Charge of the Professional Women's Hockey League, the 27-year-old will finally get the chance to play at this level in her hometown.

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When the PWHL announced in November that St. Louis will host one of the nine neutral-site regular-season games in the PWHL Takeover Tour, Dunne's smile reached from ear to ear.

"I'm so glad I get to take it back to my hometown because those girls don't have the opportunity to see this firsthand and so now they get a chance," Roese said via Zoom on Wednesday. That's why I'm happy for these girls. I have a lot of local girls that are in my camp every summer, so I'm really excited for them to get to witness this firsthand.

"I feel like I've had the opportunity to do it all, which I'm so fortunate about, but this is by far the coolest because I feel like this is the first time that we've experienced what it is to be a pro and to have consistency and support and a league and a salary and benefits. All the things that come with having a real job. It's so exciting."

The Charge will face the Boston Fleet on March 29, 2025 at 1 p.m. (CT) at Enterprise Center. Tickets can be purchased at thepwhl.com/tickets and with the popularity of girls and women's hockey in the area, Roese, whose siblings -- including sisters Jessica, Josey and Joy and brothers Josh and James -- all have experience playing hockey, will showcase herself and provide the inspiration to those girls of today to live their dream.

"This opportunity is a reality for them now," Roese, who married in 2023, said. "Growing up, everyone asked me if I wanted to play in a professional league and I was like, 'That wasn't an option. I didn't even dream about that.' ... Now these girls get that. I'm so excited for them because I think when you have that dream, when you can dream big from an early age, the sky is truly the limit."

A strong attendance can certainly benefit St. Louis in its efforts to potentially be a choice for expansion when the PWHL is ready to move in that direction, something Roese would welcome.

"I actually don't know all the details by going to expansion, so I think I'd be very biased when I say you should go to St. Louis because I have so much love and support there personally, but there's so many things that go into expansion," she said. "Do I know it would be a good market? I don't know based off data, but can say personally I know that the support there would be great because St. Louis (is) very, very loyal to their fellow St. Louisans."