Lake City declares "Taylor Heise Day" as Team USA wins gold in Milan

The women's USA Hockey team are three-time Olympic gold medalists after a 2-1 overtime win against Canada Thursday.

There were several Minnesota connections contributing to the win, including six Frost players: defenseman Lee Stecklein and forwards Kendall Coyne Schofield, Kelly Pannek, Grace Zumwinkle, Britta Curl-Salemme, Taylor Heise and current Minnesota Gopher Abbey Murphy. 

Heise is a native to Lake City, Minnesota, about 90 minutes south of the Twin Cities. On the day of the gold medal game, Lake City declared it "Taylor Heise Day." 

Port 104, a restaurant and bar in Lake City, hosted a watch part and it was an emotional and electric cheer when USA won in overtime, with Heise getting the assist in that game-winning goal.

"We were pinching each other thinking we have an Olympian that started right here in Lake City, Minnesota, so super cool," said Jennifer White, who knew Heise growing up.

Fans showed up to Port 104 in their red, white and blue, cheering specifically for No. 27 on the ice.

So many in attendance feel connected to Heise's journey to becoming an Olympian.

"We put some flyers out in school and one found Taylor's backpack," said Joe White, who started the first youth hockey league in Lake City, and Heise signed up right away. "Definitely early on, you could tell she had some good skills."

Heise took those skills to Red Wing for high school, and her grandpa, Kenny Heise, drove her there every day to play.

"Pretty proud of her," said Kenny Heise. "Puts tears in your eyes."

All those trips to Red Wing were worth it for this 88-year-old to see his granddaughter make her Olympic dreams come true. 

His message to her after she won: "Taylor, you work hard and it paid off. Congratulations. I love you."

Across town, at Bluff View Elementary — where Heise attended and her mom has been teaching for more than 25 years — the students skipped the last classes of the day to cheer on Team USA. Heise is inspiring so many young kids to dream big.

"I'm a really big Taylor Heise fan," said fourth grader Nessa Hoops. "She works really hard and she tries her best to win."