Red Wing says 'thank you' on Taylor Heise Night
Dec. 19—RED WING — The last time Taylor Heise stood at center ice at Prairie Island Arena on a game night for the Red Wing girls hockey team, she scored the first goal of the game, the last goal of the game and five more in between.
She assisted on two others.
Her seven-goal, nine-point effort in a 10-0 section semifinal playoff win against Austin on Feb. 10, 2018, was a fitting way for one of the best — if not the best — players in Red Wing girls hockey history to cap her playing days at Prairie Island Arena.
Tuesday night, Heise heard the cheers and soaked in the adoration of the home crowd once again. One more emotion was evident this time, though, from the fans to Heise and from Heise to the fans: Gratitude.
Though she grew up in Lake City, Heise said Red Wing became her home during her high school days. She graduated from Red Wing High School in 2018 after a historically brilliant six-year high school hockey career.
"Red Wing holds a special place in my heart, in the sense of, it's not my home, but it is my home away from home," said Heise, whose parents still reside in Lake City. "I'm so grateful that everyone here not only keeps track of what I'm doing, but understands that, even though I can't be here all the time, I am supporting them no matter where I'm at."
Prior to Red Wing's girls varsity game against Rochester Mayo on Tuesday, Heise signed autographs and posed for photos with fans of all ages for close to an hour. When it was time for the current Wingers to hit the ice, Heise once again stepped into the faceoff circle where she took hundreds or, more likely, thousands of draws during her high school career, this time to drop the ceremonial first puck.
Then, following the first period, Heise returned to center ice and watched as a giant purple-and-white banner was unveiled, bearing her name and the No. 9 — the number she wore during the final five of her six varsity seasons at Red Wing, and the number she wore throughout her five-season career at the University of Minnesota.
Heise's banner will hang on the north end of the arena, next to the No. 18 for Alyssa Johnson, a pioneer in girls hockey in Red Wing and a reason the Wingers program was started in the 1990s. On the opposite end of the arena, two white banners hang high above the ice, for former boys standouts Johnny Pohl and Reid Cashman.
"As you can see, we don't have too many up there," Heise said, pointing to the four banners that honor former Wingers. "And there are some amazing both men and women up in those rafters. So I would say I'm definitely honored to be there. This is the place that gave me my start and that introduced me to hockey.
"... I'm super excited now to be a role model for little girls and, when I was a kid and even in high school I didn't have that huge role model to show that you can play professional hockey, you can do things after college."
Since she left Red Wing after winning the Miss Hockey Award and leading the Wingers to sixth place in the Class 1A state tournament in 2018, Heise's work ethic and success have continued to skyrocket.
Her bullet-point list of accomplishments could be its own chapter in her life story — and she's just getting started.
She departed the University of Minnesota last spring after five years and one of the best careers in Gophers history. She was a two-time First Team All-American, a two-time WCHA Forward of the Year, the 2022 WCHA Player of the Year, and the 2022 winner of the Patty Kazmaier Award (given annually to the top women's college hockey player in the country). And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Heise has represented the U.S. in the past two Women's World Championships, helping her country win silver in 2022, when she was the breakout star of the international tournament. This past April, she assisted on the game-winning goal as the
U.S. beat Canada on Canada's home ice to win the World Championships.
Heise appears to be well on track to reach her next goal in international hockey — playing for the United States in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. She was one of the final players left off the U.S. roster for the 2022 Games, something Heise has used as fuel to continue to become an even better player.
Most recently, she has become the marketing face of Minnesota's entry in the upstart Professional Women's Hockey League, a six-team league that features the best women's players in the world and will start play next month. The Lake City native was
the No. 1 overall pick in the inaugural PWHL Draft
in September.
It all started for Heise in Red Wing, though, and she hasn't forgotten her southern Minnesota roots — in fact, she's embraced them.
"It's the people, you know?" she said. "Southern Minnesota hockey, it has this special place in my heart. It's a place where there are so many amazing people who not only care about you as a hockey player, they care about you as a person."
When Heise debuted with the Wingers' varsity as a seventh-grader in the late fall of 2012, she joined a program that was on a rapid ascension to becoming a state power. Even among veteran standouts such as Paige Haley (a 2013 Miss Hockey finalist), Nicole Schammel (a 2014 Miss Hockey finalist), Reagan Haley (a 2015 Miss Hockey semifinalist) and Ashley Corcoran (a 2015 Senior Goalie of the Year finalist), Heise's talent was evident and undeniable.
Red Wing won section championships in three of the four seasons prior to Heise joining the team (2009, 2011, 2012). The Wingers won three more consecutively — in 2013, 2014 and 2015 — during Heise's seventh-grade, eighth-grade and freshman seasons. After suffering narrow losses in the section playoffs the next two seasons, Heise willed Red Wing back to state as a senior in 2018, scoring two goals and assisting on another in a 4-1 section championship game win against Rochester Lourdes, just five days after her nine-point game against Austin in the section semifinals.
"I like to segment time and make sure I'm taking in every single thing that I'm doing," Heise said while standing in the tunnel leading from the Wingers' dressing room to the ice. "Even this hallway where we would come out for games. I remember we made the mixtape that we would go out to the rink with. We would do everything the same way, every single game.
"At the time, those things seemed so important, and even now, it's still important, but it's so funny to think about, to come back here and to remember all the memories."
Heise topped 100 points in that senior season alone, scoring 74 goals and 104 points in her final high school season. She finished her high school career with 216 goals and 370 points. On top of all that, she carried a 3.96 grade-point average in high school.
That combination of being a tremendous athlete and an even better person is what has endeared Heise to fans across Minnesota, but nowhere more so than her home arena.
"I'm excited to come back here and see that high school hockey is surviving and thriving in southern Minnesota," Heise said. "It's been a great experience and to have my name up there, etched in the rink that I spent hours in — whether that was five-in-the-morning on Sundays before church, or before practice — is awesome."
Taylor Heise's hockey resume continues to grow. Here's a look at a few of the best on-ice accomplishments for the Lake City native:
RED WING (2012-2018)
—4-time section champion (2013, 2014, 2015, 2018).
—Career totals of 216 goals and 370 points.
—Minnesota Miss Hockey, 2018.
—USA Today Girls Hockey national Player of the Year, 2018.
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA (2018-2023)
—Two-time First Team All-American.
—WCHA Player of the Year, 2022.
—Patty Kazmaier Award winner (national player of the year), 2022.
MINNESOTA-PWHL (2023)
—No. 1 overall pick in inaugural PWHL Draft.
TEAM USA
—Two-time member of Team USA at Women's World Championships, winning silver in 2022 and gold in 2023.
—Three-time gold medalist with Team USA at Under-18 Women's World Championships (2016, 2017, 2018).
—Team USA captain, Best Forward of the tournament and Tournament MVP at 2018 U-18 Women's Worlds.
