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heather rule

Twin Cities, Minn.
[email protected]
Socials: @hlrule • www.heatherrule.com • Written Rule of Sports

Experience

Freelance sports writer
December 2010 to present
Bylines published with:

Writes about various sporting events including NHL and PWHL games, and high school state tournaments. Writes feature stories and profiles about teams and athletes.

Honored as a seven-time finalist at the MN SPJ Page One Awards, including first-place awards in 2018, 2024 and 2025 for hockey stories published with the Star Tribune and Minnesota Hockey Magazine.
“Working with Heather and around her for several years, I am lucky to witness her work ethic, knowledge, and ability to tell stories.” – Nathan Wells, freelance sports writer

Independent correspondent, Minnesota Wild
July 2026 to present
NHL.com
St. Paul, Minn.
The National Hockey League, founded in 1917, is the second-oldest of the four major professional team sports leagues in North America. Today, the NHL consists of 32 Member Clubs, each reflecting the League’s international makeup, with players from more than 20 countries represented on team rosters.
Interview athletes and write feature stories for the NHL's website. Transcribe media availabilities to provide quotes for stories. Report on game-day news for the Wild and opponents.

Features writer
February 2026 to present
Minnesota Wild
St. Paul, Minn.
Established in 2000, the Minnesota Wild is the State of Hockey's professional team and resides in the NHL's Central Division.
Contribute written stories to for the Minnesota Wild website throughout the season and playoffs. Select stories also included in the Wild game day programs.

Minnesota Hockey Magazine
Minnesota hockey coverage at various levels reaches at least 40,000 readers through digital platforms and print editions.
Executive editor
September 2023 to June 2026
St. Paul, Minn.
Assigned hockey feature stories for the website and multiple printed magazine issues throughout each season. Managed writers/columnists. Edited, published and shared stories on social media.

Published stories and photo galleries to online and print publications.
Helped expand coverage for more consistent weekly content on the website.
Created a calendar/Google documents/spreadsheets to keep content assignments organized.

Features, Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Frost beat writer
February 2015 to June 2026
St. Paul, Minn.
Covered state high school hockey tournaments, Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Frost games. Produced game coverage and feature stories for online and print publications.

Honored with a total of two first-place and two third-place MN SPJ Page One Awards in 2024-26.
“Skilled, versatile and hard-working performer.” “… ability to repeatedly deliver clean, professionally written copy while meeting or exceeding deadlines.” – Brian Halverson, former Minnesota Hockey Magazine editor.

Sports reporter (contract)
October 2014 to present
Star Tribune
Mpls., Minn.
The Star Tribune is the Upper Midwest's largest news organization, with audience numbers consistently in the top five in the country among regional and national peers.
Cover section and state tournaments for various prep sports. Write game stories and live-blog posts on tight deadlines.

Honored with first (2018) and second-place (2023) MN SPJ Page One Awards.

In-game social media coordinator
Minnesota Twins
Mpls., Minn.
March 2021 to February 2024
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team in Major League Baseball’s American League.
Major League Baseball Advanced Media
June 2015 to February 2021
MLBAM distributes content through all forms of interactive media for 30 MLB teams.
Watched all Minnesota Twins baseball games and updated the team’s Twitter/X account @Twins with scoring plays, stats, graphics, GIFs and videos. Posted box score graphics to team social media.

Helped grow the @Twins Twitter/X account from 302,000 followers to more than 700,000.
Established use of the #TwinsWin hashtag for content surrounding Twins victories.

portfolio & projects

Founder and writer
November 2025 to present
Written Rule of Sports Substack
Twin Cities, Minn.
Substack is a media platform where creators earn from subscriptions.
Created a self-published newsletter focused on coverage of the PWHL and Minnesota Frost. Cover games, interview team personnel, write/edit/publish stories to Substack platform.

Published posts average around 200 views.
Comments from subscribers: "This is my favorite of all the tributes I've read the last 24 hours." "Thanks for all of the Olympic and PWHL stories."

Children’s book author
September 2016 to present
Red Line Editorial
Mendota Heights, Minn.
Partners with schools to better prepare students for their future in college, career and life.
Writes non-fiction sports books geared toward children in elementary and middle school.

Research sports topics before writing 13 children's books on a variety of athletes and subjects.
Multiple books are available for students to check out at the Crooked Lake Elementary School media center in Andover, Minn.

Sports writer
February 2018 to present
Breakdown Sports Media
Moorhead, Minn.
Breakdown Sports Media is the leader in publishing printed content on Minnesota high school sports, from 200-page season preview guidebooks to team promotional calendars to tournament programs and more.
Interviews coaches and athletes to write longform, 2,500-words feature stories previewing seasons for prep sports teams.

Stories contributed to various annual guidebooks for volleyball, baseball, softball, boys and girls basketball, and boys and girls hockey.

Contributing writer
May 2023 to present
MN Cities Magazine
League of Minnesota Cities, St. Paul, Minn.
The mission of the League of Minnesota Cities includes promoting excellence in local government.
Writes in-depth feature stories focused on Minnesota cities and newsworthy projects or topics they have going on in their areas.

Interviews with city sources revealed tips and practical information for other cities to learn.

Writer
April 2020 to February 2026
Otter Tail Lakes Country Magazine
Fergus Falls, Minn.
The magazine is an annual publication focusing on the people and venues showcasing all Otter Tail County offers for residents, tourists and visitors.
Wrote brief feature stories highlighting tourism and attractions in Otter Tail County for the 2021, 2022, 2023, 2025 and 2026 magazines.

30,000 copies are distributed to more than 500 regional locations, including the Mall of America.

Sports blogger
June 2009 to present
Thoughts from the Stands
Twin Cities, Minn.
Thoughts from the Stands is a sports blog that started to keep up Heather’s writing skills. It has more than 170,000 total page views.
Composes blog entries typically ranging from about 400 to 800 words sharing opinions and results about sports including baseball, hockey, IndyCar racing and high school athletics.

Wrote three 14-part series with movie commentary for the movies “A League of Their Own,” “The Rookie” and “Angels in the Outfield.”
Comments from readers: “Very thoughtful and heartfelt. Excellent job!” “This was heartfelt. Your article was very meaningful for me.” “Perfectly said.”

Let’s Play Everyday podcast panelist
September 2021 to May 2022
Let’s Play Everyday Sports Network
Mpls., Minn.
The home for sports podcasts, covering hockey, football, local sports and more, featuring host Tim McNiff along with rotating panelists.
Joined Tim McNiff and two or three other sports-minded, rotating panelists once or twice a week via video platform to discuss the biggest local and national sports stories of the day.

Discussed the Minnesota Vikings, Twins, Wild, Timberwolves and Gophers with panelists Jessi Pierce, Darrell Thompson and Andy Greder, among others.
Shared my expertise on niche sports areas, like high school sports and IndyCar racing

Social media manager
November 2015 to January 2020
Fox Nutrition and Diabetes Services
Andover, Minn.
Fox Nutrition & Diabetes is a small business assisting people with healthier eating habits, weight management and overall diabetes care.

Updated and monitored Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ pages with links, articles and photos.
Copy edited and published provided content for monthly e-newsletters via iContact.

Color commentary broadcaster
November 2008 to February 2009
Minnesota Sports Broadcasting Network
St. Paul, Minn.
MSBN Sports Network runs broadcasts online for multiple sports from youth to college and the pros.
Broadcasted seven St. Thomas women’s hockey games as a color analyst. Worked alongside play-by-play commentators to create informative broadcasts.

Used knowledge gained by watching hockey to comment on the plays as they developed.

journalism background

News reporter
February 2013 to August 2014
Fergus Falls Daily Journal
Fergus Falls, Minn.
The Daily Journal was a six-day-a-week printed newspaper with a 6,200 circulation that provided area news to residents in Fergus Falls and surrounding communities in Otter Tail County.
Covered the crime and city beats, along with general assignment reporting and photography. Updated the newspaper website and sent out daily email updates. Copy edited pages daily.

Honored with a third-place MN SPJ Page One Award in 2015 in Arts & Entertainment.
Exposed questionable closed city council meetings related to the Minnesota Open Meeting Law.
Provided the sports editor and reporter with a tutorial on maintaining their Twitter accounts.
Created breaking-news website updates during the Boston Marathon bombing and interviewed a local runner via text messages for a story.
Maintained strong and trusting relationships with sources.

Sports reporter (part-time)
January 2013 to February 2013
Albert Lea Tribune
Albert Lea, Minn.
This 24/7 news outlet provides local news to Albert Lea and nearby residents.
Covered local prep sports. Interviewed players and coaches and wrote stories. Took photos at local sporting events. Published stories and photos on the website. Wrote weekly news features.

Dedicated around 30 hours/week to the position that started as 10 to 20 hours/week.

News reporter
March 2011 to December 2012
Post-Bulletin Co., LLC
Austin, Minn.
The Austin Post-Bulletin was a six-day-a-week newspaper with about 7,800-circulation providing coverage to Austin and surrounding communities in Mower County.
Reported on the city, education and general assignment beats. Also took photos and covered spot news.

Caught the local HRA in violation of Minnesota Open Meeting Law and wrote a series of stories.
Assisted a co-worker with setting up her Twitter account and gave her a tutorial on usage.
Maintained strong and trusting relationships with sources.

Sports copy aide (part-time)
December 2009 to February 2011
Star Tribune
Mpls., Minn.
The Star Tribune is the Upper Midwest's largest news organization, with audience numbers consistently in the top five in the country among regional and national peers.
Answered phones and recorded sports results. Entered box scores onto designated websites. Created weekly stats leader lists for the print editions.

“Heather did a great job and was very dependable… She is suited to a variety of different tasks and can be trusted with all of them.” – Michael Rand, supervisor.
Covered the 2010 girls' tennis state tournament and adapted soccer state tournament.

Blogger
February 2015 to May 2017
StoryTeller Media + Communications
St. Louis Park, Minn.
StoryTeller is an inbound marketing and video production company that focuses on telling stories.
Wrote 450 to 500-word blog entries for StoryTeller clients, mostly Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Used internet research to learn more about set topics, like event planning, to write informal blogs.

Marco Andretti Examiner
March 2010 to October 2010
Examiner.com
Examiner.com was a news and entertainment network with more than 20 million readers per month.
Watched IndyCar races and wrote three stories per week (66 stories total) about IndyCar driver Marco Andretti using the Examiner publishing tool. Polished stories with copy editing, choosing photos and adding text links.

Attended the 2010 Mid-Ohio race, drawing on experiences and taking photographs for the stories.

Copy editor
November 2009 to June 2010
InsideHockey.com
This website covers all NHL teams, as well as NCAA hockey, the AHL and ECHL.
Copy-edited stories and published them to the Inside Hockey website. Made sure the writing structure was sound for hockey stories.

Fact-checked names and statistics for stories posted within separate four-hour time frames.

Website content manager
January 2009 to December 2009
North American Membership Group (currently SCOUT Media)
Minnetonka, Minn.
Digital media network SCOUT operates web, print and television properties focusing primarily on male enthusiasts. Its multi-platform delivery includes more than 300 web destinations and a 21-million-deep customer list.
Maintained five magazine websites. Edited and loaded articles with photos. Organized member profiles and updated them online daily. Updated website polls and surveys.

Supervisor Tony Capecchi, about Heather: “Her work ethic was exemplary… No matter how many projects were thrown her way, Heather always completed them, without complaint, at an extremely high level."

The Aquin newspaper – University of St. Thomas
September 2005 to December 2008
St. Paul, Minn.
This student-run, 12-page newspaper was published weekly with the latest news from around campus.
Sports editor
September 2007 to December 2008
Provided editorial direction and managed three staff writers weekly. Compiled sports briefs for each edition. Assigned sports previews, recaps and feature stories. Copy edited stories using AP style.

Paid position with an average of 15 hours weekly.
“She took initiative to improve her writers’ skills by pointing out common mistakes and suggesting improvements.” – Michael Wilcox, Aquin editor.
Created a document about the details of writing a good sports story for writers’ reference.

Staff writer
September 2005 to May 2007
Wrote 650 to 800-word stories weekly covering news and sports on the St. Thomas campus. Conducted at least three interviews per story with students, coaches and faculty. Built relationships with sources.

Always submitted stories to editors by the Sunday evening deadline.
Chose a variety of sports stories to write about, fueling the passion for sports reporting.

Sports intern
Summers, 2007 and 2008
Sun Focus newspapers
Osseo, Minn.
The Sun Focus published local news for residents in Blaine, Spring Lake Park and Fridley.
Wrote sports stories weekly. Interviewed coaches, athletes and community members. Composed season previews, profiles and stories on 5K community runs.

Covered large events including the Senior PGA 3M Championship and Schwan’s USA Cup.
The sports editor said the stories required less editing than those from more seasoned reporters.

education

University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, Minn.
B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication
English minor

skills

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