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Taylor Heise Named 2022 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award Winner

03/26/2022, 10:00am MDT
By USA Hockey

2022 Marks 25th Anniversary of the Award

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – University of Minnesota forward Taylor Heise (Lake City, Minn.) was named the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award recipient, the USA Hockey Foundation announced today. The senior was the 25th all-time recipient of the honor, which is awarded annually to the top player in NCAA Division I women’s ice hockey. 

"We are absolutely thrilled for Taylor, her family, teammates and our program," said University of Minnesota head coach Brad Frost. "She had a year that we will all remember and is very deserving of the Patty Kazmaier award. Taylor embodies what Patty was all about and we are so happy for her. To add her name to the likes of Krissy Wendell and Amanda Kessel, as past winners from the University of Minnesota, speaks volumes to the season that Taylor had."

An alternate captain who helped the Gophers to a 29-9-1 record in 2021-22, Heise’s play helped spark Minnesota’s high-powered offense all season. The senior wrapped the year leading the NCAA in both total points (66) and points per game (1.69), while ranking second in goals (29) and sixth in assists (37). 

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Heise was tabbed an AHCA First Team All-American, while also earning WCHA Player of the Year and WCHA Offensive Player of the Year honors in helping her team to the WCHA regular-season title. She was named HCA National Player of the Month in November and WCHA Forward of the Month on three occasions (Nov., Jan., Feb.). 

Off the ice, the Lake City, Minnesota, native is a WCHA All-Academic Team honoree and spends her time giving back to the community. Heise coached and ran drills during the Minnesota Wild’s Girls in Hockey Weekend, while also volunteering at the Blaine Fire Department Food Donation Drive and at Bluff View Elementary School reading books to children. 

Heise was selected as the recipient of the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award from a group of three finalists that included senior forward Gabbie Hughes of the University of Minnesota Duluth and Sophie Jaques a senior defender from Ohio State. 

NOTES: Heise is the 25th recipient of the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award… Heise is the third Gopher to win the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, joining Amanda Kessel (2013) and Krissy Wendell (2005) … The recipient of the 2022 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award, was chosen by a 13-person selection committee made up of NCAA Division I women's ice hockey coaches, representatives of print and broadcast media, and an at-large member and representative of USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States.

THE PATTY KAZMAIER MEMORIAL AWARD

An award of The USA Hockey Foundation, the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is annually presented to the top player in NCAA Division I women's ice hockey. Selection criteria includes outstanding individual and team skills, sportsmanship, performance in the clutch, personal character, competitiveness and a love of hockey. Consideration is also given to academic achievement and civic involvement. For a full list of previous honorees, click HERE

ABOUT PATTY KAZMAIER

The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award is named in honor of the late Patty Kazmaier, who was a four-year varsity letter-winner and All-Ivy League defenseman at Princeton University from 1981-86. An accomplished athlete who helped lead the Tigers to the Ivy League Championship in three consecutive seasons (1981-84), Patty Kazmaier-Sandt died Feb. 15, 1990, at the age of 28 following a long struggle with a rare blood disease.


Recipients

Year Name School Position Hometown
2024 Izzy Daniel Cornell University Forward Minneapolis, Minn.
2023 Sophie Jaques Ohio State University Defender Toronto, Ont.
2022 Taylor Heise University of Minnesota Forward Lake City, Minn.
2021 Aerin Frankel Northeastern University Goalie Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.
2020 Elizabeth Giguere Clarkson University Forward Quebec City, Que.
2019 Loren Gabel Clarkson University Forward Kitchener, Ont.
2018 Daryl Watts Boston College Forward Toronto, Ont.
2017 Ann-Renée Desbiens University of Wisconsin Goalie La Malbaie, Que.
2016 Kendall Coyne Northeastern University Forward Palos Heights, Ill.
2015 Alex Carpenter Boston College Forward North Reading, Mass.
2014 Jamie Lee Rattray Clarkson University Forward Kanata, Ont.
2013 Amanda Kessel University of Minnesota Forward Madison, Wis.
2012 Brianna Decker University of Wisconsin Forward Dousman, Wis.
2011 Meghan Duggan University of Wisconsin Forward Danvers, Mass.
2010 Vicki Bendus Mercyhurst College Forward Wasaga Beach, Ont.
2009 Jessie Vetter University of Wisconsin Goalie Cottage Grove, Wis.
2008 Sarah Vaillancourt Harvard University  Forward  Sherbrooke, Que. 
2007 Julie Chu Harvard University Forward Fairfield, Conn.
2006 Sara Bauer University of Wisconsin Forward St. Catharines, Ont.
2005 Krissy Wendell University of Minnesota Forward Brooklyn Park, Minn.
2004 Angela Ruggiero Harvard University Defender Harper Woods, Mich.
2003 Jennifer Botterill Harvard University Forward Winnipeg, Man.
2002 Brooke Whitney Northeastern University Forward Snohomish, Wash.
2001 Jennifer Botterill Harvard University Forward Winnipeg, Man.
2000 Ali Brewer Brown University Goalie Racine, Wis.
1999 A.J. Mleczko Harvard University Forward Nantucket, Mass.
1998 Brandy Fisher University of New Hampshire Forward Potsdam, N.Y.

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