The Aucklander was only 15 when a world championship event was held in Auckland in 2013 — she was too young to officially take to the ice during the tournament — and spent her days training alongside the team in the build-up.
The defender debuted for the Ice Fernz in Italy the following year and has come full circle, captaining her team as they got their division 2, group B world championship campaign under way in Dunedin last night.
Jones is thrilled, as are her team-mates, to finally be playing in New Zealand again and wants to use the home ice to push them towards the medals this week.
"Using the momentum of the home advantage ... we don’t get it often," Jones said.
"We’ve never had this many people that are going to watch our games since the last time that we were in Auckland.
"Just that many people cheering for us."
Jones has two brothers who also enjoy the ice — Flynn Hayward-Jones plays for the Ice Blacks, and Nash Hayward-Jones represented the men’s under-20 team.
She has captained the Ice Fernz for the past three years and said it was an honour to lead her country.
"It takes the game away from you, kind of personally.
"You just want the best for your girls and the best for the team in general."
Jones, who is an apprentice electrician, has a great leadership group beside her in alternate captains Hope Gregory and Anjali Mulari.
Gregory, who learned to skate at an ice rink in a mall in the United Arab Emirates where she lived as a child, debuted for the Ice Fernz in 2016 and has been a mainstay ever since.
She visited Dunedin schools last week alongside her team-mates and held a meet and greet at the ice rink on Saturday and was blown away by the turnout from young girls.
She said when she played tournaments in Dunedin as a 12-year-old
"there was only a sprinkling of girls. There weren’t many of us".
"To see how many young girls are keen to get on the ice and give it a go is pretty special."
Gregory, 24, who is originally from Queenstown but is based in Auckland as an avionics technician in the air force, said it was important for younger athletes to see a pathway to being an Ice Fern.
Seeing girls holding Ice Fernz flags at an Ice Blacks game last year showed the progression.
"It was crazy. I’ve never experienced anything like that."
Jones, 26, agreed and knew first-hand the impact of hosting a world championship could have this week.
"The growth of ice hockey in New Zealand is pretty massive from when we played here last and the growth of the girls," Jones said.
"When I watched them play in 2013, we went from having one weekend tournament of nationals with three teams in it ... and now we have a whole league.
"We’d play four games on that weekend and now we play full series."
— Belgium beat Hong Kong 6-2 in the opening game of the division 2, group B world championships last night, while Australia beat Turkey 2-0.
In the late game, the Ice Fernz and Ukraine were locked 3-3 at the end of regulation time before the Fernz prevailed 4-3 in overtime.
