Taylor Heise, who earned MVP honors in last season's PWHL playoffs, has been working her way back from a knee injury this season. (Aaron Lavinsky/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Taylor Heise says she’s not a patient woman, and “everyone in my life knows it.”

When she was a standout for Red Wing’s varsity hockey team at only 12 years old, she didn’t have to be patient.

When the former Gopher was picked No. 1 overall in the first-ever PWHL draft last year, she didn’t have wait for her name to be called with bated breath.

But the patience of the Minnesota Frost forward and reigning PWHL playoff MVP has been tested in 2024, especially early in the Frost’s Walter Cup title defense — one point behind league-leading Montreal through six games and six points ahead of Boston, where the Frost play on Thursday.

But Heise’s ready for the challenge.

Before the season, the 24-year-old Lake City native injured her right knee practicing for the United States’ November games against Canada. She swapped the red, white and blue for a red no-contact jersey at Frost preseason camp, where she skated with a brace, maybe at “70 percent” of her ceiling, she said.

“Anytime you start the year injured, it’s hard,” coach Ken Klee said. “We know that her best hockey is still in front of her … It’s exciting for us to be in a good spot where we’re at and still have not had the best version of Taylor Heise.”

It’s not an unfamiliar situation for Heise. The Patty Kazmaier winner, who also had double-hip surgery in college, dealt with a separated shoulder that sidelined her for February of her rookie season.

“[The break] came at a decent time where I just felt like I wasn’t loving the game anymore, as much as I loved it,” Heise said. She was on a six-game scoring drought at the time. “I just couldn’t go out there and do what I needed to do, as I just felt really overwhelmed. And it happens to everyone.”

Sometimes recovery means rest, and sometimes it means extra hours with trainers at the Frost facilities in St. Paul. But it’s not uncommon for Heise to pull into the parking lot early and already see six of her teammates’ cars, uber-punctual for similar reasons.

“Getting older, I do have to do extra things behind the scenes,” Heise said. “When I was young, I could sit in the car for an hour and a half and just go and run into practice and be fine. Nowadays, it’s not the same.”

Equally important to Heise’s recovery are her “outs” from hockey.

She turns to sports psychologist Carly Anderson, whom Heise had monthly sessions with at the U, and who now works with the Frost. She spends time with friends and family living nearby, and boyfriend Parker Fox, and bakes and cooks.

“I’m surrounded by good people,” Heise said. Her parents, both former college basketball players, have helped keep her focused on what she can control, what she can check off the to-do lists she loves. “I have people in my life that don’t allow [the pressure] to hurt me in a bad way.

“If you have a bad attitude — I’ve seen it happen to myself — your body does not feel any better,” she said.

After sitting seventh in ice time among Frost forwards through the first four games, Heise played a season-high 33 minutes against New York, then 18 against Montreal. Through six games this season, she’s scored once and has six assists.

“She gets healthier, she’s going to play more, and she’ll play better, which will lead to more ice time for her,” Klee said. “I’m a coach who, you know, you play better, you play more.”

En route to the PWHL’s first title, patience paid off for Heise. She finished the regular season with four goals and nine assists in 19 regular-season games, then scored five times and recorded three assists in 10 playoff games.

“Sometimes your role changes, and sometimes people get hot, sometimes people score five games in a row,” Heise said. “It’s the game of hockey, and hockey is unpredictable.”

Boston at Minnesota

6:30 p.m. Thursday at Xcel Energy Center

TV; streaming: FanDuel Sports Network Extra, PWHL YouTube

In game two of a five-game home stretch, Minnesota (4-1-1) looks to bounce back from its first regulation loss of the season, 3-2 against Montreal on Saturday. While the Frost top the league in scoring, last-place Boston (2-4) plays a stingy defense with key performances from goalie Aerin Frankel to help a much quieter offense led by Hilary Knight’s three goals. Minnesota beat Boston 2-1 on the road on Dec. 4 in the teams’ first rematch since their five-game Walter Cup Finals in May.