Hindsight is 20/20.
In hindsight, Taylor Heise could have played basketball, and she probably would have been pretty good.
“I knew the basketball courts pretty well,” Heise said with a laugh. “I knew where every single one of them was in my hometown. The NHL never made it on our TV as kids because the NBA was always on, or we’d be watching college hoops. My mom and dad played college basketball at University of Wisconsin-River Falls, and both my brothers play college basketball. So that was just kind of our family thing.
“But then I got a newsletter in my backpack at age 7 or 8 about coming to play hockey and thought, ‘Oh, hockey sounds fun.’ It started as just something fun to do.”
That flyer quickly turned into shooting and stickhandling in the garage, visits to the outdoor ice in Lake City, Minnesota, and a front-yard rink where Heise developed the elite skill that’s on display with the U.S. Women’s National Team and for the Minnesota Frost today.
However, hindsight has taught Heise a lot as she goes through the motions of professional hockey and growing the game.
Being a face of the league can be tough.
Heise reached a new level of stardom this past year despite her already highly touted young career.
The 2018 USA Today High School Sports All-USA Girls Hockey Player of the Year, and the 2018 Minnesota Ms. Hockey—given annually to the best girls high school hockey player in the state of Minnesota—has never really been under the radar per se.
Heise won three straight gold medals with Team USA at the IIHF Under-18 Women’s World Championship in 2016, 2017 and 2018, serving as team captain in 2018.
Heise then spent five seasons at the University of Minnesota, amassing 96 goals and 225 points. She was named the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award recipient as the best Division I women’s college hockey player the same year that she was the point leader on the U.S. Women’s National Team at the Women’s World Championship.
Oh, she was then selected first overall in the PWHL by the Minnesota Frost, where she scored the first goal in team history on Jan. 3.
Yes, Heise’s star ascent has certainly been quick.
“I grew up in small town Minnesota,” said Heise, who recently had a No. 9 banner unveiled at Red Wing’s Prairie Island Arena in her honor. “Things never just came easy, and I worked hard. I come from a really hardworking family, and I had two brothers who never let me live it up—I was always the third one on the totem pole—which always helps keep me humble.
“But when I came into the league and ended up being one of the faces right away at the age of 23, there was a lot of support around me making sure I was OK, from staff to coaches, to family and friends. Because having yourself out there at that age, or any young age, can be really difficult. At the same time, while it’s definitely something that’s hard to take in sometimes, it’s a privilege, and I’m so honored to do that as part of my job.”
It’s just a game
The Frost, known simply as PWHL Minnesota in its inaugural year in 2023-24, didn’t have an easy path to their eventual claim on the Walter Cup championship. Hot out the gates with a 3-0 start, Minnesota limped into the playoffs to face top-seeded Toronto having lost its final five regular-season games.
Toronto took an early two-game lead in the best-of-five series before Minnesota surged back and rattled off three straight wins and followed up with three more victories in the finals against Boston to take home the inaugural PWHL championship.
Heise was named the inaugural Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP with a league-leading eight points in the playoffs.
While Heise and Minnesota can call themselves champions today, last season was full of plenty of critics.
“My dad would always ask, ‘Why are you worried about them? It’s literally a game,’” Heise pandered. “And whether you’re 24 or you’re 8, there’s going to be better players out there. There always will be. It’s a generational game. Everything changes all the time.
“So, one of my big goals this year is to go out and always find the joy in it. I know losing stinks, and even winning and not playing well stinks a little bit too. Finding the joy—and that’s going to come from seeing all the young girls in the stands because even when I’m nervous, when I go out and see how excited people are to be there, that helps me—that’s going to be a major focus for me this year.”
Taylor Heise has 10 goals and 27 assists in her career for the U.S. Women’s National Team at the Women’s World Championship.
Women’s hockey has never been in a better spot
In the 1999-2000 season, the year Heise was born, there were 37,028 female hockey players registered with USA Hockey. This past season, there were 93,610—a 153% increase in the span of 24 years.
Now as the PWHL enters year two, it feels that it’s just the tip of an iceberg, as women’s sports across the board are seeing a record number of viewers, interest and engagement.
“This league is something I’ve dreamed about for the past few years,” Heise said. “You want to be a role model for little kids and little girls, and now that we have games on TV, and highlights of women’s sports on ESPN, you’re able to reach so many more people. More kids that get to say, ‘Hey, I want to be a women’s hockey fan, or I want to try hockey.’
We talk about it in the locker room sometimes. We play a kids game. You’re here to have fun, but we also know that we’re doing this for other little girls—so they can grow up with the realization that there is a pro league. They can work hard and dream and try for that.
“That’s just super awesome and I’m so excited I get to be a part of that.”
Jessi Pierce is a freelance writer covering the NHL and hockey in Minnesota. She hosts the hockey-centric Bardown Beauties Podcast and can be followed on X @jessi_pierce.