Taylor Heise doesn’t need hardware to validate her status. The Lake City native is one of the best women’s hockey players in the world — maybe the best. She was the No.
1 overall selection in the inaugural Professional Women’s Hockey League draft last fall. She tied with teammate Michela Cava as the leading scorer in the first-ever PWHL playoffs. She’s seemingly a lock to play in her first Olympics for Team USA in Italy in 2026.
That’s all just the tip of the gigantic iceberg that is Heise’s hockey resume. So, no, she doesn’t need a PWHL Walter Cup championship and she doesn’t need the title of Ilana Kloss PWHL Playoff MVP to prove her worth on the ice. ADVERTISEMENT But now she has both.
At age 24. She also has the drive that is innate in the best of the best athletes, a drive that distinguishes them regardless of what sport they play. She remains 100% in the moment, always, whether she’s interacting with fans, family, teammates or media, or she’s playing for a gold medal or the first-ever PWHL championship.
Heise had five goals and eight points in 10 PWHL postseason games, and was on the ice for one of Minnesota’s goals in its 3-0 win at Boston in the decisive Game 5 of the Walter Cup Finals on Wednesday night. She embraces pressure with a disarming smile before dismantling her opponents in cold-blooded fashion. Then she likes to go home and bake cookies (she has mentioned more than once that she likes to bake almost as much as she likes to play hock.