For more information about Gift Of The Game, read our Part One featuring Duncan Keith.
Taylor Heise has already accomplished just about everything there is to accomplish in hockey.
The 2023 number one overall pick and Minnesota Frost forward has guided the franchise to the first two Professional Women’s Hockey League Walter Cups, winning the inaugural Ilana Kloss Playoff MVP award in 2024.
Heise, a Minnesota native, also starred at the University of Minnesota from 2018-23, donning the “C” in her final campaign and winning the Patty Kazmaier Award for top female college hockey player in 2022.
But, she was not satisfied.
Earlier this year, Heise’s team came to her with a new content idea: Gift Of The Game.
“I really was super excited when I heard a little bit about it,” Heise told The Sporting News. “It’s something that I didn’t have when I was young. It’s important for me, as a player that wants to forward the game and gift it to other people.”
The instructional videos are meant to teach kids, parents, coaches, or anyone interested in learning more about hockey. Heise specializes in shot selection, snap shots, backhand toe drags, the clutch gene, and attacking defenders with speed and confidence.
Gift Of The Game founder and director Tom Acton knew that pairing a highly skilled PWHLer with legendary NHL defenseman Duncan Keith would relay information to viewers unlike anything the hockey world has seen.
Aside from growing her personal brand and sharing the ice with Keith, Heise, more importantly, felt that Gift Of The Game would provide her with an opportunity to help expand women’s hockey.
As a kid, Heise did not have widespread access to instructional videos. Plus, despite growing up in hockey-obsessed Minnesota, she was raised in a basketball-dominant family and faced rink and ice availability issues in the southern part of the state.
Heise and her parents would often have to drive an hour and a half to practices, and she was forced to develop her game individually: shooting on synthetic ice, garage workouts, and roller blades.
Now, through Gift Of The Game, she can share some of the tools and tips that have catapulted her into a legendary stratosphere.
“I think it’s important that I’m able to be someone that young kids can look up to,” Heise said. “But also someone that is accessible. I think that Gift Of The Game is exactly that. It’s a way for kids to see me as accessible and be able to learn from the things I do.”
Heise’s wisdom stretches beyond the ice, too.
“You don’t always have to do the most, you just have to do the right thing. That was the recipe for success for me.”
Gift Of The Game has also allowed Heise to use social media in a positive light and influence young skaters for the better. In this often toxic online environment we live in, it’s refreshing to see someone contribute so altruistically.
“We go out and we play for the little kids that are in the stands, making the signs. We play for our parents. We play for those who didn’t get to play in a league like we get to play in. It’s having the gratitude for those around you that’s most important.
“Sometimes you gotta look away and say, ‘it’s not about me, it’s about us,’” Heise said.
While Heise did have idols such as Dani Cameranesi and Lee Stecklein to look up to, Gift Of The Game offers a unique approach to training with a personal touch. The videos feel like she and Keith are talking directly to the viewer, not only about hockey, but about life.
“I already have heard of a lot of girls and people that I’ve made a mark on by watching some of the things that I’ve done… I’m excited to see where it goes,” Heise said.
Heise knows that with projects such as Gift Of The Game, she can leave the sport in a better place than she found it.
