Photo of a hockey player skating on ice while crowd watches

Taylor Heise scored a goal in her first game with PWHL Minnesota.

Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

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Breaking the Ice

On January 1, hockey fans packed the stands at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Canada. They were there to watch the puck hit the ice in the first game of the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). 

Six teams are battling it out in the PWHL—three from the United States and three from Canada. It’s the first pro women’s hockey league since 2019 to include all the best players from both countries. Compared with previous women’s leagues, the PWHL offers players better pay and more opportunities to be seen by bigger audiences. 

“I feel very grateful to be a part of a league that supports its players as much as this one does,” says Taylor Heise, a forward on PWHL Minnesota. 

Heise was the first player selected in the PWHL draft. She says being chosen by the team in her home state made the honor even more special. 

Heise loves seeing girls in the stands at her games holding signs that read “herstory” instead of “history.” And she enjoys spending hours signing autographs after each game.

“To be someone that young girls get to look up to has been an honor for me,” Heise says.

She hopes the PWHL will inspire the next generation of athletes.

“When I was about 9 or 10 and I realized hockey was my passion, there wasn’t a professional league for women in the U.S.,” she says. “I’m living the dream right now.”

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