Frost forward Taylor Heise has plenty of reasons to be confident

Taylor Heise might’ve started this PWHL season in a self-described “rut,” but the Minnesota Frost forward has worked her way out of it, and then some. In her last four games, the 25-year-old Heise has put up seven points, and she’s now just three back of the league lead.

She’s weeks away from representing Team USA in her first Olympic Games, to boot. 

The defending, reigning and only champions in PWHL history, the Frost have four games to play before the league breaks for the Winter Games, and their first comes Friday as they visit the New York Sirens (7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT on Sportsnet). 

The Sirens are on a franchise-high four-game win streak, but New York is meeting a Minnesota team Heise describes as being on a “heater” of its own, and sitting second only to Boston in the standings. Ahead of puck drop, the forward touched on a range of topics, including what it feels like to win a Walter Cup, Team USA’s mindset around the rivalry with Canada as the Olympics approach, her (very big goals) for 2026, and why confidence, at least in her case, isn’t a magic trick. 

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. 

SPORTSNET: Congratulations on making the Olympic roster. What was that moment like? 

HEISE: Thank you. It’s really awesome — it’s a dream come true. It’s such an interesting period of time, too, with about three weeks to go, and you're wanting to stay healthy and play hard, and obviously I'm with the Frost right now, but just super excited to be on that team and to obviously represent my country. And just to be a part of the legacy of USA Hockey at the Olympic Games is really, really special, and I’m happy to have my name in the record book, for sure. 

Were you confident you’d be on the roster? 

Yeah. I think that I'm a confident person. I try to keep my confidence up regardless of what's going on around me. I feel confidence can trick a lot of people, but being a confident person is definitely something [positive] in my repertoire. 

Going into the process, because of the last time, obviously there's that slight doubt [Heise was an alternate at the last Olympics], but I know I'm a completely different player than I was back in 2022. Just knew that I'd be excited to be there. And I think my first worlds that I came back [in 2022, after the Olympics], I ended up being MVP and having 18 points in seven games, so I think I put a stamp on that really quick and kind of just brought that confidence back up, and I don't really think it's wavered at all in the four-year process we've had.

A lot of people say confidence is a magic trick. Do you believe that? 

Um, I guess so? [Laughs.] I feel like for me, this sounds weird, but I love my life and I love the people around me, and I think it's really a blessing to be able to do what you love as your job and not really have it feel like a 9-to-5. I'm blessed to be able do that, and yeah, there's days where I don't feel as confident or I make a play that I'm not proud of or something like that. But I think I've been really good at turning that around and making that into something of a positive for me. I really like to learn from different situations and something that I pride myself on is if I make the mistake once, I'm not going to make it again, and I think that's also a way to continue to up the confidence. 

You can fake confidence all you want, and I know there's people in our world that do that. I think if I'm going up against a player and they're confident — regardless of if they are or if they're faking it — you can feel that, like, good energy. And I think that's always something that people don't want to see from a player, and I just try to exude that as much as I can. 

How much good energy does your Team USA have at the moment, after beating Canada in four straight Rivalry Series games heading into Milan? 

Yeah, it obviously goes back-and-forth. We've had our days where we've lost four games in a row and they've had their days where they've lost four games in a row. We just try to keep our heads [level], because I know things can change in a heartbeat. 

Do you keep an eye on some of your younger American teammates? Did you see Abbey Murphy’s assist the other night? 

Oh, did I ever — that thing was all over the world! And she deserves it. I was actually with her [Monday] night. We were at the Wild game and sitting next to the Hughes family and chatting about how it's a weird time right now and it's really hard to, I guess, put it into words. Like, yeah, you want to snap your fingers and be in Milan, but you also love what you're doing and obviously I love playing with the Frost and we're doing really well right now and I think the [University of Minnesota Golden] Gophers are as well. So, we did talk about like, it's a weird time, but also, she deserves that. She gets under people's skin and I think she's the type of player that just doesn't always get the recognition she deserves in a positive way, but she takes the negative recognition anyway and rolls with it. And that's what I think her confidence comes from. 

All the pre-season talk was that either Vancouver or Seattle would be winning the Walter Cup, and they’re currently tied for last. What do you think about that? You know how quickly things can change in this league, too.

Oh my god, yeah! We’re only like 10 or 11 games in [laughs], so we're a third of the way there. I wouldn't judge them too early. Obviously, they got to hand pick their team, and GMs and coaches for them got to choose who they wanted pretty much out of a hat — a lot of players that were really good and really talented. Sometimes you have to struggle to see the good in what we’re doing, and I think they'll figure it out at some point. Hopefully not against us, but yeah, hope for the best for them, of course.

What’s it like to win the Walter Cup? Only your team knows that feeling. 

Amen [laughs]. It's pretty fun and we don't take it with a grain of salt. We know what it feels like. We know what we're striving for every day. We're not itching for a feeling or itching for another championship because we know what that feeling is. People say it's kind of like a drug, like once you win it once, you want to continue to win it even more every single year. We want to be Minnesota that's won every single year because that's one of the coolest things. I don't know in history, like the start of a league, if that’s been a thing. I haven't done my due diligence or research, but I think it's special because we are the only ones that know that feeling. 

What have you thought of your season so far? You have said that you criticize yourself a lot…

Oh yeah, I do. Me and my dad sit down and we talk about every game. I usually call him before and after every game. If I’m digging too much at my game, he’ll hold me back, and if I’m not digging enough, he’ll let me know what I need to figure out. But I was really proud of myself…

I think I started out in a little bit of a lull, but I believe in myself and my teammates and my coaches and their belief in me. And I think now my feet are under me, and recently I guess in the past few weeks to month, I feel like I've been really, really good, and I'm feeling really good. And obviously with the Rivalry Series, I feel like I've played really good for those games, and just felt really confident in what I'm doing. 

Your dad’s a basketball guy [Tony played for the University of Wisconsin—River Falls, and so did Heise’s mom, Amy]. What does he tell you about your game? 

Yeah, well he's been watching me since I was eight, so he understands it and gets it. I've talked to him every game day, and I call him almost every day. Either it's to critique myself or it's just to talk things out, and he doesn't always know the logistics of things, but I know what I need to work on. We just talk about the simple things that make you a great player, but also the things that I do in my game that are so special, and that kind of sets me apart. If I need to yell or b---- about something, he's always there and he knows how to keep me honest and confident as well. 

Do you get recognized a lot when you’re just walking around? 

Um, yeah. I don't want to make that sound like I'm a cocky person, but I feel like most places that I go, there's either someone that sees me, or I was at the Wild game and Parker [Fox, Heise’s fiancé and former captain of the Gophers basketball team] was keeping tally of how many people were coming up to me and him [laughs]. Obviously, he's six-foot-eight so you can't miss him, and usually if I'm with him, people spot him first and then spot me afterwards — I’m a little bit shorter [five-foot-10]. I try to say I'm safe at the grocery store but that sometimes isn't the case either. 

But I enjoy it. I'm more than happy to take a picture and to talk to them about whatever they need. I didn't necessarily have that when I was young, so I want to be that person for them, and it's important for me. I want show them my best every day. Even though you're not always going to be at your best, I want to make sure that they see that. I don't want them to have a bad experience with someone like me or someone in our sport. 

How does a kid who grew up on a dairy farm in a basketball family make it to where you are?

Just to make sure you know, I grew up next to a dairy farm — my grandpa was on a dairy farm. But I grew up in the country. 

So you weren’t milking cows? 

I have done it once, for funsies, but my dad and my grandpa grew up doing that. Both really hard workers, and blue collar. 

So many articles mention that you grew up on a dairy farm. Thank you for correcting the record. 

Of course. And I think for me, I have great parents, I can't say enough about them. I don't think they get enough recognition for what I do, and it honestly makes me emotional thinking about it. They’re such great people. And I have two brothers, so to have three kids that are pretty elite at their sport and what they do — my mom says she doesn't care about that, she cares about who we are as people, and she’s proud to be our mother. Both of my brothers play college basketball… 

I'm very independent and those who know me know that that's how I go about my life, and that I'm proud to be a hockey player, but I'm also proud to be a Heise and from a basketball family that doesn't always talk about hockey. When we go home, I feel like basketball is more of a topic sometimes, and I love that because it helps me to not focus on hockey a ton. Because obviously hockey is something I do, it's not who I am. So, I don't want that to overtake my life and overtake who I am. I love my family for it and I just think their determination and the push that they had for me as a kid — I always say if I didn't have the motivation I did as a kid, I wouldn't have been where I'm at, but I also wouldn't be where I am without my parents. 

When are you getting married? Not to put pressure on picking a date if you haven’t yet…

I’m getting married this summer. It’s going to be fun. 

Will it be a big wedding?

It could be. We could have gotten up to 700 people, but it's just going to be kind of our immediate family. I want to say it's like 150 people. So, within Parker and I's inner circle, that's very small for both of us. We just didn't want to have anything too big. Obviously, our lives are pretty big and we do a lot every day, but I think just celebrating with our people is what our goal was for that day.

What other goals do you want to accomplish this year? 

I want to win a gold medal at the Olympics. I want to help my team succeed and to be a part of another Walter Cup. I'm getting a dog this year, which is definitely something I've wanted to do for all 25 years of my life. I'm going to my bachelorette. I'll have a honeymoon. It's going to be fun year for me. So, I think obviously not everything goes your way, but I sure hope it does [laughs].