From now on, Valentine's Day for Melissa Doyle and her family is no longer going to evoke thoughts of roses, stuffed animals and boxes of chocolates.
The holiday has new meaning because it will forever be remembered as the day Doyle surprised her parents with amazing news: She had earned a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy.
Doyle, who played Division III women's ice hockey at Gustavus Adolphus from 2010-14, was not going as a player, though. She was selected as one of 12 referees and 22 total officials to be a part of an all-woman officiating crew for the women's ice hockey competition.
Doyle chose to share the news by making a card with Valentine's Day-themed Olympic rings, substituting hearts for the iconic rings.
"We were elated when we learned that she was selected to work the Olympics," said Melissa's dad, Greg Doyle. "This journey required hard work, sacrifice and overcoming setbacks along the way. It is a lofty accomplishment with only a few women in the world being selected."
Dating back to her childhood, officiating hockey was the preferred form of family bonding time for Doyle and her family. At 12, Greg enrolled Melissa and her brother, Ryan, into officiating youth hockey in her hometown of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.
"It allowed my brother and I to really learn the sport of hockey and learn the rules," Melissa Doyle said. "Sports teach us so much about personal development, and officiating takes that even to another level."
In addition to playing, Doyle continued to officiate hockey through her freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus. With a packed schedule as a college athlete, she decided to take time off as an official to focus on playing, as well as academics and other extracurriculars she was involved with on campus.
Looking back on her time as a student-athlete, she appreciates just how much she was able to take part in. On the ice, Doyle was a part of three consecutive NCAA tournament teams, where her team made the semifinals round each time. In the classroom, she balanced double majors in biology and nursing. She also was a leader in her Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and volunteered in her spare time with Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity and a local high school hockey team.
Doyle thinks the Division III model enabled her to still prioritize her passions and studies while playing a sport.
"I think those types of experiences continue to remind you what's important in life and really ground you with a good foundation," Doyle said. "They really want you to be the best you can in every aspect of your life, and you're not singularly focused. And I really appreciated that about the Division III mentality. … For me, that was perfect."
Doyle graduated from Gustavus Adolphus in 2015. After taking another year off for recuperation, she returned to officiating in Minnesota.
"I started off again at youth, and I actually had to start back at the very bottom of the barrel," Doyle said. "I was doing the really tiny kids, which was perfect. Because I feel like if you don't use a skill, you lose it, right? We all know that. And so, yeah, it was perfect. I got back into officiating at a lower level … grassroots."
After each season, Doyle attended officiating development camps. These camps taught her the rules of the game at each level and how to apply them effectively. She was also paired with an evaluator who gave her advice on different situations she encountered on the ice. With the completion of a camp, Doyle could move up a level. Over time, she advanced from the youth level to the high school, collegiate, professional and international ranks.
Moving up the ranks gave Doyle the best of both worlds: an opportunity to fill that competitive edge being a student-athlete gave her and the chance to stay close to the grassroots level and continue officiating with her dad. Being able to go from working a Professional Women's Hockey League game for the Minnesota Frost one day to a local youth game the next helps keep things in perspective for her.
Doyle's dad does not take their time together for granted.
"Anytime you can work alongside your child is special," Greg Doyle said. "It is a unique bond that is shared between us."
Just like any two officials though, they still have fun and rib each other on the ice.
"All officials give their partner a hard time about their calls, occasional falls and how we handle difficult situations," Greg Doyle said. "When we work together, it is the same.We worked one game where a bunch of boys were jostling near the net, and she threw all six players in the box.'You, you, you, you, you, you.All get in the box.' I've never let her live that one down."
Now, Melissa Doyle will be reaching even greater heights in her officiating career as an Olympic referee. The selection process was an extensive one, as 100 of the International Ice Hockey Federation's best officials are narrowed down to 22 through a series of rigorous evaluations.
"I was super happy to be selected for the top 100," Doyle said. "Then I was super pumped to be selected for the top 60, and I was floored to be selected for the top 30. So you can see where this is going."
Being recognized among the profession's elite was "an answer to a lot of prayers" for Doyle. It also was a moment to reflect not only on her journey in the sport, but the sport of women's ice hockey as a whole.
"I'm super proud (of my accomplishments), but I think that there's a huge opportunity for women's hockey to continue to grow and expand," Doyle said.
"There's a lot of really good people promoting the sport, promoting female officials, promoting just officiating in general. I feel like I'm just part of the big puzzle, but I hope that I can continue to contribute to it because it's a really special place to be in."
With all the time and effort Doyle puts into her work as an official, she and other referees do have obligations outside the sport. She puts her education to work as a principal clinical safety specialist for Medtronic, a medical technology company she has worked at since 2015. Doyle ensures the quality and safety of various medical devices before they go on the market.
Similarly to how she once balanced her double-major workload in college, Doyle uses those same skills she learned to navigate her two professions.
"I was very busy on campus, and even today I am trying to balance PTO at work and taking time off for my tournaments and also finding some time to just rejuvenate," Doyle said. "I don't actually know what normal people do with their PTO because all my PTO has gone to hockey. But you have a priority, and you really dedicate your resources to trying to keep yourself balanced. And I think that's the same whether you're an athlete or in my position right now."
When Doyle does touch down in Milan next February — along with her parents, who are joining her for the trip — her main goals are to have fun with her family, learn and live in the moment, on and off the ice.
The goals she set are reminiscent of why she started officiating in the first place, and an example of what the profession can give you.
"You can meet awesome people and give back to the sport and invest in the sport and make the sport better," Doyle said. "There's so many different avenues that I think that we see as officials that maybe get overlooked, and so that's kind of a cool opportunity that I've not experienced before as a player that I'm able to contribute as an official."