American women's hockey gold medalist Taylor Heise opens up on what it means to play for Team USA

With the weight of the entire nation on her shoulders in the middle of overtime in the Winter Olympics gold medal matchup against Canada, American Taylor Heise passed the puck up to Megan Keller and then made a beeline for the bench.

Heise said she didn’t see what happened next.

"I passed the puck up and I skated as fast as I could to the bench and by the time she’s already scored, I was almost there and then everyone started to hop and that’s when I knew she had scored. So, I just turned right back around," Heise recalled in an interview with Fox News Digital on Saturday. "After I’ve watched it about 10 times, like, it’s unbelievable she did that and just such a ballsy play to make in an overtime but she’s someone that’s so talented and can absolutely do that with grace every time."

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It was joy and triumph from there.

The American team ran over to Keller in celebration as Team USA took home its first gold medal in women’s ice hockey since 2018 and only third overall in the team’s history at the Olympics.

"It definitely was relief," Heise said of the moment she was able to throw her gloves up in the air and hit the ice in celebration. "I think when I was able to throw my gloves in and do all that and get to celebrate with the girls, I just think relief in the best way, not relief in the fact that we didn’t believe that we could do it, but relief in the fact that we were done and we finally finished the job and climbed Mount Everest and did what we needed to do.

"Just an unbelievable feeling and it’s been super fun to relish in that. And I think now today’s been the first day I can just like relax and take a second to really bask in the glory that we’ve made for ourselves here and I’m super excited to live in it and it’s definitely moments I’ll have for life."

One moment that Heise suggested stood out for her was the ability to hear "The Star-Spangled Banner" play after the team received the gold medal.

She mentioned the importance of it in her postgame media availability with reporters on Thursday and opened up about it again with Fox News Digital.

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"Playing for your country and the pride of the place that you live in is pretty amazing and to wear that USA emblem on your chest every day it’s something that you don’t want to take for granted every day," she said. "I think sometimes things can get repetitive. We’ve been here for 22 days and you’ve got to sometimes remember why you do what you do and remember that hockey is a kid’s game and it’s just a fun sport to be a part of, and to represent your country at the highest level there is, it’s pretty unbelievable.

"And to have the full support of everyone back home, that’s probably been my favorite part. The messages we’ve gotten from past alumni and people who played on the team and just people back in the U.S., that’s definitely been one of my favorite parts because they clearly see the talent and joy that we played with for sure."

Heise will take the unforgettable moment in for the next few days, but her season is far from finished.

She will return to the ice for the Professional Women’s Hockey Leage’s (PWHL) Minnesota Frost. She is one of six Frost players who were on Team USA. The team gets back to action on March 1 against the Montreal Victoire.

With millions of people watching the gold medal game, Heise suggested she was confident that the PWHL picked up some new fans.

"I would take a week off in Mexico but I understand that’s not possible," Heise joked. "But yeah, we’re all excited to go back and to get started back with the PWHL. It’s definitely a league that’s given us a platform to play on and kind of looking back to the WNBA and how they started. It’s a consistent grind and it’s not just you go from here to here in two days.

"With our expansions and everything, it’s definitely been a hard process for a lot of people, moving teams and such, but I just think, you know, 7.7 million people that tuned in for that gold medal game, which is amazing by the way, I just think it’s pretty special because I think we gained a lot of new fans. Regardless of if you’re just a women’s hockey fan or you tuned in to the Olympics and now realize that we play in a professional league. It’s pretty special and I expect us to have a few more fans that show up for our games and decide that they want to be PWHL fans in the future."

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