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Before Wednesday night’s game against Toronto, Minnesota coach Ken Klee took Taylor Heise aside for a talk. He had a simple message for his star: Slow down.
Klee thought Heise could play better than she had in her first two games in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. The former Gophers star, who was the top pick in the PWHL draft, agreed. Following that chat, Heise went out and proved it, powering Minnesota to a 3-1 victory at Xcel Energy Center.
Heise scored Minnesota’s first two goals on dazzling moves, then set up Kendall Coyne Schofield for the third to push the team’s record to 3-0. Goaltender Nicole Hensley came up big, too, with a 31-save performance that kept Minnesota atop the PWHL standings as the league’s only undefeated team.
Heise scored the game’s first goal at 18 minutes of the first period. Toronto (1-2) tied it on Sarah Nurse’s shot from the slot at 3:42 of the second, then Heise struck again at 11:12 to put Minnesota ahead 2-1.
Midway through the third period, Heise found Coyne Schofield in front of the goal and sent her a perfect pass from the right circle. Heise now has three goals on the season, second only to Grace Zumwinkle’s league-high four.
“[Klee] is a great coach, and I take in everything he has to say,” Heise said. “[The talk] was like taking the weight off my shoulders, knowing that not everything has to be 100 miles per hour. Slow down and just enjoy the moment.
“I just knew I could do better. I’m just really glad we won. That’s all that matters.”
Wednesday’s crowd wasn’t a repeat of Saturday’s announced attendance of 13,316, a record for a professional women’s hockey game. But the 4,707 fans who filled about two-thirds of the lower bowl were equally enthusiastic. The Gophers women’s hockey team came, too, sitting in a VIP area on the club level.
After starting goaltender Maddie Rooney in the home opener, Klee went back to Hensley, a week after her superb performance in the season opener at Boston. Toronto got the better chances in the first period, outshooting Minnesota 9-6 and pressuring the home team into mistakes.
Heise broke through with a great individual effort. She collected the puck from Lee Stecklein in the neutral zone, then powered down the left side. On her way to the net, she skated past Toronto’s Renata Fast and Allie Munroe, then knocked a shot off goalie Kristen Campbell’s pad for a 1-0 Minnesota lead.
Nurse got the equalizer on an unassisted goal from the slot as Toronto turned up the pressure in the second period. Heise answered with another beauty. She scooped up a loose puck, froze Campbell with some fancy stickwork and fired the puck over her to restore Minnesota’s lead.
“She plays a confident game,” Toronto coach Troy Ryan said. “We just gave her way too much space, way too much room. I felt at times we were just watching her play.”
Heise could have gone for the hat trick, but she used her skill to set up Minnesota captain Coyne Schofield for her first goal of the season.
Klee praised Heise not just for her play Wednesday, but for her response to their pregame talk.
“She takes feedback well,” he said. “She’s coachable. I need a player who wants to get better, and she definitely is that.”
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