Portfolio

As a full-time news reporter, sports reporter and social media coordinator, Heather has built up an extensive portfolio of news stories, sports stories, features and profiles. You can find the links to those pages below.

On the rest of this page, you will find selected highlights of Heather's best writing clips from her portfolio. These works were published with the Minnesota Wild, Star Tribune, Minnesota Hockey Magazine, The Athletic, Chicago Tribune, Fergus Falls Daily Journal and Austin Post-Bulletin. PDFs of each story below are available to view/download via the corresponding images.
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minnesota wild


The Hat Story: A preseason speech from their General Manager led to the Wild's player-of-the-game gear
Published: March 18, 2026

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Player of the Game has turned into more than a simple postgame nod to a player who contributed to a team's win. Many teams in various sports have some kind of prop, or hat, that gets passed around to a well-deserving teammate. ​

Star Tribune

Playing for 'Mick'
​Published: March 9, 2023

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Colin Scanlan's younger brother died Christmas Day, but he and his Cretin-Derham Hall teammates have found new purpose in reaching the state tourney.

Star Tribune


Hard to Catch After Catch
Published: Aug. 29, 2023

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​KhiJohnn Cummings-Coleman emerges as Coon Rapids' game-breaker. Coon Rapids wide receiver Cummings-Coleman - aka "Mr. CR" - caught 57 passes for 962 yards and 11 touchdowns last year. 

Minnesota Hockey Magazine

Rink Rat
​Published: Feb. 17, 2022

​ Nearly three decades later, Winny Brodt Brown continues to leave her mark on women's hockey in Minnesota and beyond. This enterprise feature story and profile on Winny includes interviews with a dozen people connected to the hockey world. (The story is broken up into eight pages of PDFs on the images below.)
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Minnesota Hockey Magazine

Broadcasting Icon: Sweet Lou
​Published: March 2024

Lou Nanne calls it a career after 60 years of broadcasting the state tournament. Nanne is one of the treasures in Minnesota hockey. He partially attributes a flat tire to his decision to retire from his broadcast position with the Minnesota state high school boys' state hockey tournament.

Say it ain't so, Sweet Lou!

The Athletic


​Sara McClanahan follows in father Rob's footsteps while carving her own hockey path
​Published: Nov. 27, 2017 


​Rob McClanahan won a gold medal with the 1980 U.S. Olympic men's hockey team. He was also a standout player with Mounds View High School in the 1970s. Now his daughter, Sara, has carved out her own path as an athlete.
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The Athletic


'We made it': The Whitecaps' rise to the model of success for the NWHL
​Published March 5, 2019

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​From auditions to skate in the original "Mighty Ducks" movie to playing together for years as teammates, Brooke White-Lancette and Winny Brodt Brown helped the Minnesota Whitecaps find success in their first year in the National Women's Hockey League. 

Chicago Tribune


Glenbrook North swimmer learns to walk again after beach accident
​Published: April 20, 2017

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In reporting a standard season preview story for a boys' swim team, Heather learned about Tural's long journey back to the pool after a beach accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Some extra reporting turned this into an enterprise piece.

Fergus Falls Daily Journal


Private talks: Opinions mixed regarding series of closed meetings for RTC development
​Published: Sept. 29, 2013


Over the course of six months, the city council met in closed session nine times. At least one council member wanted to see meetings about the RTC development held in front of the public. 
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Austin Post-Bulletin


​Post-Bulletin to file complaint against HRA
​Published: April 18, 2012


After some investigative reporting and talking with multiple sources, it appears as though the Austin HRA possibly violated the state's open meeting law. 
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