Eight players with Minnesota ties named to U.S. women’s hockey team for 2026 Winter Olympics

This time, there was no doubt.

Taylor Heise is one of the more dynamic players in the Professional Women’s Hockey League and, finally, is an Olympian.

After being one of the final cuts before the team departed for the Beijing Games in 2022, Heise was named to the 23-player roster on Friday to compete at next month’s Olympic games in Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.

“Being named to the Olympic Team is hard to put into words,” said Heise, one of eight players with ties to Minnesota on the U.S. team. “This has been a long-time dream of mine, and I am so happy I am going to be able to live that out and play alongside the best players in the world.”

It was a tough cut four years ago, as Team USA coach Joel Johnson, who had coached Heise on the U18 national team and recruited her to the University of Minnesota, felt she wasn’t ready. Heise has used that moment to fuel her drive to be part of this Olympic cycle.

Heise returned to the Gophers, led Division I in points and won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the top women’s player in college. She was named to the roster for the next world championships and was named MVP of the tournament. The coach of that team was John Wroblewski, who is in charge of Team USA this cycle.

In two-plus seasons with the Frost, Heise has 41 points in 56 games.

Three things stood out as the U.S. Olympic women’s hockey team was announced Jan. 2.

Much of it is different.

Much of it is the same.

And a lot of it screams Minnesota.

There are 11 players back who participated in the 2022 Beijing Olympics, a team that lost twice to Canada, including in the gold medal game. That group includes speedy forward Kendall Coyne Schofield and defensive stalwart Lee Stecklein (Gophers), both of the Frost. The pair will be taking part in their fourth Olympics, one shy of forward Hilary Knight, who will appear in a women’s hockey record fifth Olympics.

Abbey Murphy, the Gophers star, is at it again this year. She’s second in the nation with 20 goals, tied for second with 34 points and is tied for first with 45 penalty minutes. She also is one of seven players currently competing in college who were named to the team, and Murphy is headed to her second Olympics.

The eighth player with Minnesota ties is defender Rory Guilday, who is from Chanhassen and plays for Ottawa in the PWHL.

The turnover appears to be necessary, as Team USA looked a little overwhelmed four years ago by a faster, talented Canada team. If the recently concluded rivalry series against Canada is an indicator, the United States’ younger roster looks better prepared to go for gold this time around. In the four-game series, the Americans outscored the Canadians 24-7, with Murphy leading in goals scored.

“I do think there’s a lot of positives you can take out of what the team did [in the series],” Coyne Schofield said. “and what we’re going to carry forward into Milan.”

Do we think Canada was playing possum in the series?