Jenna Fireovid: The Heart of Clemson Women’s Hockey

Jenna Fireovid was only a freshman on the SUNY Plattsburgh co-ed hockey team when her heart stopped on the ice during a routine practice in September 2023.

After being revived by her teammates, Jenna could have abandoned the sport that almost killed her. Instead, two years later, she’s not only skating again—she’s leading the Clemson Women’s Hockey team through their first season with College Hockey South (CHS).

Her story is one of resilience, perseverance, and courage. It began when she was 15 years old, inspired by one of her high school teachers who played hockey. She thought he was so cool that she decided to give the sport a try herself.

There was just one problem: Jenna had been diagnosed with asthma. She struggled to breathe during sports and was prescribed inhaler after inhaler.“Sometimes I would puke during games and stuff, and I didn’t know why,” she said.

It wasn’t until after her heart stopped that doctors realized the asthma diagnosis may have been wrong—and the medications she was taking could have worsened an undiagnosed heart condition.

Despite her medical challenges, Jenna wasn’t nervous about joining Plattsburgh’s men’s team. She believed her high school experiences had toughened her for that environment, and she’s always “gotten along with guys a lot better than girls.”

“I was there with all the guys, and they kind of adopted me as their little sister,” she recalled. “I would lay some pretty heavy hits on them. It was fun, and they were really good to me.”

The day that changed her life began like any other practice. During a scrimmage, Jenna suddenly fell backward and threw her stick aside. Teammates Luke Zarko, Noah Lewis, and Zach Coventry rushed to her aid.

When they checked her pulse—there wasn’t one.

“I started looking into the stands for someone to call for help,” Noah said. “Zach went to directly assist with CPR, while Luke was focused on stabilizing and clearing any airways. I maintained tempo for Zach with the compressions.”

Jenna was purple, without a pulse or breath. After two minutes of CPR, she was revived.

“I remember waking up,” Jenna said. “It’s like I was dreaming a little bit, so I had to see what was real and what was fake.”

For her teammates, the moment was seared into memory.“It was scary,” Noah said. “You can watch movies and read about these situations, but it will never prepare you for when it happens in real life.”

Meanwhile, Jenna’s mother, Mary Fireovid, was more than 1,000 miles away in Greenville, South Carolina. She missed Jenna’s first call that night and woke to a second one filled with terrifying words: “hospital, chest compressions, ambulance.”

“My first thought was, ‘I need to get there as soon as I can,’” Mary said. “Even though I knew she was being cared for, as a mom it’s just… panic.”

In the hospital, doctors discovered an unusually high QT interval—an indicator of Long QT Syndrome, a rare condition that causes the heart to take too long to recharge between beats. Jenna was fitted with a defibrillator.

“A lot of the medications I was on actually prolonged my QT,” Jenna said. “We’re finding out that my family, all the way up to my grandparents, have the condition.”

Two days after her cardiac arrest, she was back in class. Professors urged her to take medical leave, but she finished the semester strong—and even returned to the ice just two weeks later. She and her rescuers were honored by SUNY Plattsburgh’s president for their heroism.

After that whirlwind year, Jenna decided to return home to Greenville and transfer to Clemson University. Doctors were cautious about clearing her to play again, but she was determined.

“I play in men’s league now, and I just started the Clemson Women’s team with CHS,” she said. “That’s been a huge challenge. I wanted to continue playing hockey during my collegiate career—so if no one else was going to do it, I was going to do it myself.”

Today, Jenna is the founder and president of Clemson Women’s Hockey, leading the Tigers through their inaugural CHS season. Under her leadership, Clemson swept the University of Tennessee 37-1 across three games in their debut weekend.

That day in Plattsburgh remains with her. She still gets anxious when her heart rate climbs and frustrated that she can’t push as hard as she once did.

“I believe I had to fight for my life. I feel like I was given the chance to die, and I didn’t want to,” she said. “At the time, I was struggling with suicidal thoughts, so once that happened, I’ve totally seen the world differently.”

Because of her teammates’ quick thinking and her own strength, Jenna is alive—and still spreading joy on the ice.

“Enjoy the life that you have,” she said. “Because you’re going to lose it all someday, so you’ve got to make the most of it, for sure.”

ABOUT College Hockey South: Founded in 2008, College Hockey South is a 29-school, 45 team intercollegiate hockey conference spanning eight southeastern U.S. states. College Hockey South is a 501(c)3 not for profit organization.