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Feb. 7—MILAN, Italy — There's the Taylor Heise who Minnesota hockey fans have grown to know and love.
After going without a point in her Olympics debut on Thursday, Heise and her linemates showed up in a big way on Saturday.
The Lake City native scored her first Olympic goal as the United States women's hockey team shut out Finland 5-0 to improve to 2-0-0 in Group A play at the Milao Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
Heise, Team USA's second-line center, once again played on a line with her Minnesota Frost teammate Britta Curl-Salemme one one wing, and current University of Minnesota sensation Abbey Murphy on the other wing.
That trio combined for two goals and four points in Saturday's win over the Finns at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, after being held off the scoresheet against Czechia in Thursday's 5-1 tournament-opening victory.
On its television broadcast, NBC had Heise wear a microphone for the game and played a handful of clips of her celebrating with teammates after goals, both from the bench and on the ice.
Olympic veteran Alex Carpenter scored the first U.S. goal, with assists from Laila Edwards and Megan Keller, with 4:42 to play in the first period.
With the score still 1-0 just more than two minutes into the second period, U.S. defender Cayla Barnes took the puck behind her own goal, skated it to the far side and sent a pass to Curl in the middle of the ice. Curl skated it through the neutral zone with speed as Heise flew up the left wall and Murphy skated hard up the right wing. That created a 3-on-1 opportunity for the U.S. as it entered Finland's zone.
On the NBC broadcast, Kenny Albert had the call:
"The United States with numbers ... here's Murphy ... Murphy slides it across ... SCORE! BEAUTIFUL SETUP FROM MURPHY TO HEISE! 2-NOTHING, TEAM USA!"
Former U.S. Olympic star A.J. Mleczko, doing color commentary during the Olympics, added: "Tic-tac-toe, just like that they double their lead! ... How about that breakout by Cayla Barnes! She looked up the wall, sees that it's jammed up, instead makes a perfect pass to Britta Curl-Salemme. ... This is how you draw it up. If you're coaching kids and you want to simply the game, this is exactly what you want to do — defense to the open center, then it's tic-tac-toe, goal for USA.
Albert then added: "Taylor Heise converts her first career goal at the Olympics. Twenty-five years old, first time Olympian."
And Mleczko added: "Her line is certainly a line I'm keeping an eye on. Between (Heise) and Abbey Murphy, they have a great connection. They see each other a lot — both are Golden Gophers — and then you have Britta Curl-Salemme on that line, who as (U.S. coach) John Wroblewski told us, can be 'abrasive.' So it's certainly an effective line for Team USA."
Albert then threw it to rinkside reporter Kathryn Tappen, who relayed a story Heise has told often about writing down her goals, then making them happen.
"As a young teen, Taylor Heise wrote the world 'OLYMPICS' in a Sharpie marker just above the light switch in her room, just as a reminder of one of her biggest goals," Tappen said. "She said 'people say they're going to do something, but if I'm writing it down, I'm actually going to do it.' The room has since been re-painted, but she said 'I can see it in my mind.'"
That goal was more than enough for U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel, who won her second straight start, and recorded the shutout by making 11 saves.
The U.S. got to Finland goalie Sanni Ahola — a former St. Cloud State University standout who now plays for the PWHL's Ottawa Charge — twice more in the second period.
Megan Keller scored just 1:06 after Heise's goal to make it a 3-0 lead.
U.S. captain and five-time Olympian Hilary Knight added a goal midway through the second period to make it 4-0. Knight's goal is her second of these Games and her 14th Olympic goal ever, tying with U.S. legends Natalie Darwitz and Katie King her for the most all-time in U.S. Olympic history.
Heise was initially credited with her first assist as an Olympian on Murphy's goal with 4:04 remaining in the game, but the official box score was later changed to give the assists to Curl and Caroline Harvey.
On the play, Heise passed the puck to Harvey, who put a shot on goal that was stopped, and Murphy scored on the rebound. Officials later reviewed the play and saw that Harvey's shot hit Curl before bouncing to Murphy.
Either way, Heise is on the stat sheet at her first Olympics, and looks to build on that when the U.S. faces Switzerland at 1:40 p.m. Central time on Monday (8:40 p.m. local time) at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan.
The U.S. then has a quick turnaround before facing rival Canada in the most anticipated Group-stage game of these Olympics. That contest is set for a 1:10 p.m. Central time start on Tuesday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Both of those games will be broadcast on the USA Network, and will be streamed live on Peacock.
BOX SCORE: United States 5, Finland 0
Continue reading...
After going without a point in her Olympics debut on Thursday, Heise and her linemates showed up in a big way on Saturday.
The Lake City native scored her first Olympic goal as the United States women's hockey team shut out Finland 5-0 to improve to 2-0-0 in Group A play at the Milao Cortina Winter Olympic Games.
Heise, Team USA's second-line center, once again played on a line with her Minnesota Frost teammate Britta Curl-Salemme one one wing, and current University of Minnesota sensation Abbey Murphy on the other wing.
That trio combined for two goals and four points in Saturday's win over the Finns at Milano Rho Ice Hockey Arena, after being held off the scoresheet against Czechia in Thursday's 5-1 tournament-opening victory.
On its television broadcast, NBC had Heise wear a microphone for the game and played a handful of clips of her celebrating with teammates after goals, both from the bench and on the ice.
Olympic veteran Alex Carpenter scored the first U.S. goal, with assists from Laila Edwards and Megan Keller, with 4:42 to play in the first period.
With the score still 1-0 just more than two minutes into the second period, U.S. defender Cayla Barnes took the puck behind her own goal, skated it to the far side and sent a pass to Curl in the middle of the ice. Curl skated it through the neutral zone with speed as Heise flew up the left wall and Murphy skated hard up the right wing. That created a 3-on-1 opportunity for the U.S. as it entered Finland's zone.
On the NBC broadcast, Kenny Albert had the call:
"The United States with numbers ... here's Murphy ... Murphy slides it across ... SCORE! BEAUTIFUL SETUP FROM MURPHY TO HEISE! 2-NOTHING, TEAM USA!"
Former U.S. Olympic star A.J. Mleczko, doing color commentary during the Olympics, added: "Tic-tac-toe, just like that they double their lead! ... How about that breakout by Cayla Barnes! She looked up the wall, sees that it's jammed up, instead makes a perfect pass to Britta Curl-Salemme. ... This is how you draw it up. If you're coaching kids and you want to simply the game, this is exactly what you want to do — defense to the open center, then it's tic-tac-toe, goal for USA.
Albert then added: "Taylor Heise converts her first career goal at the Olympics. Twenty-five years old, first time Olympian."
And Mleczko added: "Her line is certainly a line I'm keeping an eye on. Between (Heise) and Abbey Murphy, they have a great connection. They see each other a lot — both are Golden Gophers — and then you have Britta Curl-Salemme on that line, who as (U.S. coach) John Wroblewski told us, can be 'abrasive.' So it's certainly an effective line for Team USA."
Albert then threw it to rinkside reporter Kathryn Tappen, who relayed a story Heise has told often about writing down her goals, then making them happen.
"As a young teen, Taylor Heise wrote the world 'OLYMPICS' in a Sharpie marker just above the light switch in her room, just as a reminder of one of her biggest goals," Tappen said. "She said 'people say they're going to do something, but if I'm writing it down, I'm actually going to do it.' The room has since been re-painted, but she said 'I can see it in my mind.'"
That goal was more than enough for U.S. goalie Aerin Frankel, who won her second straight start, and recorded the shutout by making 11 saves.
The U.S. got to Finland goalie Sanni Ahola — a former St. Cloud State University standout who now plays for the PWHL's Ottawa Charge — twice more in the second period.
Megan Keller scored just 1:06 after Heise's goal to make it a 3-0 lead.
U.S. captain and five-time Olympian Hilary Knight added a goal midway through the second period to make it 4-0. Knight's goal is her second of these Games and her 14th Olympic goal ever, tying with U.S. legends Natalie Darwitz and Katie King her for the most all-time in U.S. Olympic history.
Heise was initially credited with her first assist as an Olympian on Murphy's goal with 4:04 remaining in the game, but the official box score was later changed to give the assists to Curl and Caroline Harvey.
On the play, Heise passed the puck to Harvey, who put a shot on goal that was stopped, and Murphy scored on the rebound. Officials later reviewed the play and saw that Harvey's shot hit Curl before bouncing to Murphy.
Either way, Heise is on the stat sheet at her first Olympics, and looks to build on that when the U.S. faces Switzerland at 1:40 p.m. Central time on Monday (8:40 p.m. local time) at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan.
The U.S. then has a quick turnaround before facing rival Canada in the most anticipated Group-stage game of these Olympics. That contest is set for a 1:10 p.m. Central time start on Tuesday at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
Both of those games will be broadcast on the USA Network, and will be streamed live on Peacock.
BOX SCORE: United States 5, Finland 0
Continue reading...
