Minnesotan Taylor Heise is first pick in women's hockey draft

CATHY WURZER: Just saw this crossed the wires. Just a few minutes ago, a Minnesotan was selected as the first pick in the first ever professional women's hockey league draft. Taylor Hiese is from Lake City, Minnesota and skated for the Gophers in college. She will play for Minnesota in the new Pro Women's Hockey League. Now, this news is not a complete surprise. Last week, hockey news and the athletic predicted that Hisey would be selected first. So she talked with our Todd Melby ahead of this afternoon's draft.

TAYLOR HEISE: I'm very excited. Monday's a big historic day. I'm just really, really excited and happy to be a part of it. Don't know how anything's going to go, but I'm going to put a smile on my face and make sure that I'm excited for whatever happens. Like I said, it's historic.

It's something that when I was a child, it wasn't available to women in sport. And women's hockey has been growing ever since I was a kid, obviously. So I'm just really, really happy I'm able to reap the benefits of all the hard work that a lot of our veteran players, both US, Canada, anyone like that have put in to make this league a thing. And I'm just super grateful for them.

TODD MELBY: Minnesota has the first pick. How much do you want to play for Minnesota?

TAYLOR HEISE: It would be a dream come true, obviously. I'm going to be happy with wherever I go, but Minnesota is my home. I've played in front of my Minnesotan fans here for, gosh, 15 years maybe. I think just being in the place I always say it's where everyone I love is, and I have connections all over here. So Minnesota, in my opinion, has the best fans in the nation, state of hockey for a reason, so it would mean a lot for sure.

TODD MELBY: And when you say Minnesota has the best fans, like what do you mean by that? How do they react, and how do they get into the game or not getting into the game?

TAYLOR HEISE: I think Minnesota hockey fans just understand things better. I think when you go to games other places, there's a lot of ignorance in the stands and not quite understanding the game of hockey like you need to shoot it, shoot it, shoot it instead of passing. I don't know. I just think Minnesota fans are great, and I have never had a bad experience with it.

And especially all the little girls talking to me at games and things, and it just makes me realize like that was me as a kid. So I want to continue to play for them and let them have an opportunity to continue to see women grow in the sport that they love as well.

TODD MELBY: What's the sweetest encounter you've had with a young girl fan online or in person?

TAYLOR HEISE: Honestly, like I have too many stories to count. I think even after a game that I didn't feel great at, I don't always want to go up and see the kids or my family sometimes. Sometimes I just want to sulk and be sad about the game. But like I've gone up and these girls are like, we're just so happy that you played your game today, like you never changed the way you play based on the outcome. They don't care. They're not necessarily thinking that. They're just excited to see you.

TODD MELBY: Give our listeners a sense of how hard you work during the off season. We were trying to set up today's interview, and you were lifting weights for an hour and a half or so then you had to go to rehab. Give us some sense of that.

TAYLOR HEISE: Yeah. So I would say like a normal day in the summer, I get up, I'm either working out or skating today. I skated first. I skated for about an hour. And then I kind of went and stretched for a little bit, then I worked out for about an hour and 15 minutes, stretched a little bit more. And then I went and did an hour and a half of rehab.

So my morning is pretty booked. But like I wouldn't have it any other way. I think I do this for a reason. It's going to be my job here soon. I wouldn't classify it as a job because most people complain about their jobs. And I don't have a complaint in the world about mine. So I would say anything I can do to make myself better and then also keep my body in check as well is super important to me.

And obviously, I'm busy. And I love that. I'm a very busy woman, like busy body anyways. Anyone who knows me would say that. So I just am very excited and happy for like everything that's happened so far and kind of excited for the future as well. As long as my body's going to hold up, we're going to be good.

TODD MELBY: Terrific. And The Athletic and Hockey News say you're going to be the number one pick on Monday.

TAYLOR HEISE: Well, we'll have to see. It all depends on Monday, Monday at noon.

TODD MELBY: Will you be disappointed if you're not the number one pick?

TAYLOR HEISE: Obviously, I do everything I can to be the best that I can be. But you always know there's going to be someone better. So for me, that's just something I'll use as motivation if that's the case. I'm just happy that I'm a part of a league that's going to support me as a woman and kind of support me in the life that I've been wanting. So anything that happens, I'm going to be happy with.

But I'm just going to keep working harder and hopefully get better every single day no matter where I'm at. I tend to be the most competitive person I've ever met. Any let down, I've really learned in the game of hockey like they're everywhere and all the time. So how you kind of re-up and get ready for the next big thing is kind of the thing that's most important to me at this point.

TODD MELBY: So are you competitive when you play board games with friends or family?

TAYLOR HEISE: Yeah. Our family, we don't get to play board games anymore. It's kind of banned. We have a tough time. Monopoly, that's banned for sure now. Like we cannot. That's the one game we can't play.

TODD MELBY: So your family. It's not just that's competitive. It's your parents and your siblings.

TAYLOR HEISE: No, it's everyone. I have two brothers that play collegiate basketball, and both my parents played college basketball as well. So all of us are very, very competitive and very athletic. So when you put all that in a room, it's a lot to handle.

CATHY WURZER: She's funny. Taylor Heise is a heck of a hockey player too. She was just talking with our Todd Melby. From Lake City by way of Redwing High School, she was a two-time All-America for the Gophers and won the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Award as the nation's top hockey player.