She’s one of the newest members of the Wakatipu Wild women’s ice hockey team, while her husband Jordan, 32, plays for the SkyCity Stampede.
On Tuesdays, particularly, the former Aucklanders are back and forward from the Queenstown Ice Arena, coaching the next generation, including their boys, Cruz, 7, and Miller, 4, before their own separate trainings, tagging each other in and out of parenting duties, with help from Libby-Jean’s sister, who lives nearby.
Then comes game weekends.
While this weekend the Wild’s in Auckland and the Stampede’s at home to the Phoenix Thunder — the difference between a home final or otherwise — Jordan, the district sales manager for Sydney-headquartered BRP, will be in the United States for work.
So his mum, Sue, will fly down from Auckland to help, while Libby-Jean, who launched her own content creation business, Nosy Parker, last April, heads up.
The family decided to relocate to Queenstown — "our happy place" — in January, keen to raise their young family here.
Jordan’s names synonymous with New Zealand ice hockey — he’s played 11 or so years for the Ice Blacks (53 caps), represented Botany Swarm for 13 years and has spent the past three suiting up for the West Auckland Admirals.
He always intended to don the yellow and blue in the Whakatipu, but his wife’s return to the ice wasn’t planned.
Initially a figure skater, Libby-Jean, nee Hay, decided to follow her four older brothers and have a crack at ice hockey when she was about 10.
"I just absolutely fell in love with it.
"I had to choose between the two, and I chose ice hockey, and that’s when it all really started."
But there’s also ice in the couple’s DNA.
Libby-Jean’s dad, Grant, for example, was president of the Auckland Ice Hockey Association and New Zealand Ice Hockey Federation (NZIHF) for many years, and is a life member of both.
One of her older brothers, Andy, is captain of the Swarm, and the most-capped member of the Ice Blacks (73), while her younger brother, Oliver, also plays for the Swarm.
And Jordan’s dad, Ian, was the manager of the Ice Blacks for five years — he and his wife are also life members of the NZIHF.
The couple started dating 12 years ago, but they’ve have known each other since they were tiny tots — their parents were friends, and Jordan grew up playing ice hockey with Libby-Jean’s brothers.
He quips his now-wife "was kind of like the sister that you’re not supposed to talk to, or go near".
Talent abound, Libby-Jean was selected to represent NZ — along with Stampede’s Callum Burns — in the 2012 Olympic Winter Youth Games in Innsbruck, Austria, and later gained a four-year hockey scholarship at division 3 school, The College of St Scholastica Athletics, in Duluth, Minnesota.
A year in, though, she pulled the pin.
"It was an amazing experience to play that level of hockey ... but it wasn’t for me."
Back in Auckland, she represented the NZ Ice Fernz for about five years, while also continuing her communications degree at AUT.
"And then in my last year at uni, I fell pregnant with Cruz — [I was] sitting my exams getting Braxton Hicks contractions, basically.
"But I got it done, and I got a degree."
After welcoming Miller, she played a season or so in a fun, social league, and then thought she’d retired.
But the writing was on the wall as soon as Wild coach Colin McIntosh learned of her credentials, and encouraged her to "have a go" again.
She freely admits she’s "stoked to be back".
"I just didn’t realise how much I missed it ... it’s just so nice doing something for myself again, that I have loved for so long, that’s been such a big part of my life."
She’s also full of praise for the culture created within Queenstown’s ice hockey circles.
"It feels like family."
As for the Stampede’s chances to net another championship, Jordan reckons they can back it up.
"Everyone’s well aware of how good we can be, if we line it up."
He’s got the added bonus of having one tiny coach, in particular, giving him frequent unsolicited advice.
While Cruz and Miller spend most of their spare time in the garage shooting and puck-handling, Miller, in particular, is obsessed with the sport, absorbing every second of his dad’s games.
"And then he’ll tell me afterwards what I should have done, or what the team should have done," Jordan says.
But is he right?
"He actually is, most of the time."
