Bisons’ Taraschuk keeps cementing status as one of U Sports’ best goalies

Lauren Taraschuk (#35) makes one of her 31 saves for the Bisons on Friday.

    When Lauren Taraschuk has her surreal calm going on, it spells trouble for the opposition.

    The 19-year-old star netminder was on top of her game on Friday night at Merlis Belsher Place. She made 31 saves to back the University of Manitoba Bisons to a 2-1 victory over the host University of Saskatchewan Huskies in a U Sports women’s hockey regular season contest before 536 spectators.

    Taraschuk used her 6-foot frame to perfection to take away a lot of the Bisons net, moved fluidly in goal with little to no wasted movement and her left glove catching hand was golden.

    “I felt just on,” said Taraschuk. “I felt really on my game tonight, even though my legs are absolutely gassed.

Lauren Taraschuk backstopped the Bisons to a national title.

    “I’ve tried to put that aside, and I just stay focused on each shot and just made the saves as they came.”

    She needed to be on.

    The Huskies pinned the Bisons for extended periods of time in their own zone ultimately holding a 32-15 edge in shots on goal.

    The visitors were able to score first as skilled centre Jordyn Zacharias netted her 11^th goal of the season at the 11:55 mark of the first period to give U of M the edge.

    With 25.5 seconds to play in the opening frame, Huskies left-winger Emily Upgang tipped home a mid-range shot from U of S captain Brooklyn Haubrich to tie things up at 1-1.

    Having departed from Winnipeg, Man., early Friday morning for that night’s game, Taraschuk admitted the bus legs had an effect on the Bisons side in the clash with the Huskies.

    “I can say that wasn’t our best for sure,” said Taraschuk, whose squad improved to 21-4-2-1 to remain second in the Canada West Conference. “It is tough coming off the bus after a long ride, but that is still no excuse.

Lauren Taraschuk makes a glove save on a high shot.

    “We weren’t really moving our feet. We can definitely can be better.”

    Still, the sophomore goalie believed if she kept making saves her teammates would make one play to take the lead.

    That play came 34 seconds into the third period, when Bisons fifth-year defender Alexandra Anderson roofed home a screen shot from the left slot past Huskies star netminder Jessica Vance into the U of S goal. That tally gave the Bisons their 2-1 lead.

    Taraschuk ensured Anderson’s goal stood up as the winner making 11 saves in the third period alone to close out the victory for the defending Canada West and U Sports national champs, who are currently rated second in the U Sports Top 10 rankings.

Lauren Taraschuk holds her ground in her crease.

    Vance made 13 saves to take the setback in goal for the Huskies, who fell to 15-10-1-1 and will finish fourth in Canada West.

    “It definitely helps with the team that I have in front of me,” said Taraschuk. “It definitely did last year just get my confidence up as a rookie.

    “Carrying through this year, I am very confident with the team that I have in front of me. If I can focus on my game, I know they are going to do their job up front. If I can do my part, then we’ll get the win.”

    Of course, last season was a whirlwind campaign for Taraschuk. The graduate from Winnipeg’s J.H. Bruns Collegiate was just looking for playing time as a rookie with the Bisons having fifth-year veteran Rachel Dyck on their roster.

Lauren Taraschuk played big in the Bisons goal on Friday.

    Taraschuk would have a spectacular first season posting a 10-2 record, a 0.71 goals against average, a .961 save percentage and five shutouts in regular season play. She was named the Canada West rookie of the year and to the U Sports all-rookie team.

    She go on a legendary run in the playoffs. After the Bisons fell in the first game of a best-of-three Canada West semifinal series at home to the University of Alberta Pandas, Taraschuk was inserted as the starter for Game 2.

    She would never leave the crease of the U of M goal again recording seven straight post-season victories to back the Bisons to their first national title. Over those seven games, Taraschuk turned away 153 of the 157 shots she faced and stoned another two shooters in a tiebreaking shootout in a national semifinal victory over the Concordia University Stingers.

Emily Upgang had the Huskies lone goal on Friday.

    “As soon as I started to get rolling in the second half there and through playoffs, it was a blast,” said Taraschuk. “Coming in as a rookie, you don’t see that a lot, but it was pretty cool.”

    The grad of the Winnipeg Avros female midget AAA team credits her Bisons goalie coach, Gavin McHale, for helping her develop her calm in goal. McHale, who played in the WHL from 2004 to 2006 with the Seattle Thunderbirds and Lethbridge Hurricanes, is also one of the emergency backup goalies that can be used in NHL games in Winnipeg.

    “I’ve definitely learned a lot from him,” said Taraschuk. “I think I’ve also brought a lot of it from just being me and how I am as a goalie.

    “I tend to be very calm, and it throws some people off because some people say it is not normal. I think it just really works for me being calm and confident in the net. It just helped me playing my game.”

Alexandra Anderson, left, scored the winning goal for the Bisons.

    Taraschuk has had a solid sophomore campaign posting a 17-4-3 record, a 1.54 goals against average, a .934 save percentage and one shutout. Going into this season, she said her mindset was the same as last season but there were, of course, some differences.

    “Coming in this year, I kind of knew I was number one, and I had a role to play on this team,” said Taraschuk. “It has been different, because of the amount of ice time that I’ve had. I think I have been managing it well and just taking care of my body each and every day.

    “It has been great. It has been a huge turnaround from last year, but I just kept rolling right from last year to now.”

Abby Shirley and the Huskies couldn’t net a third period equalizer.

    The Bisons and Huskies will go at it again on Saturday at 5 p.m. at Merlis Belsher Place to close their respective regular season schedules.

    When her time with the Bisons comes to an end, Taraschuk said she would love to have the chance to be one of the few goalies that continues playing high level hockey beyond the post-secondary level.

    For now, she wants to keep playing well for the Bisons. With the post-season just around the corner, she said the experience of winning the conference title and nationals last year provides big motivation to do it again this year.

    “The feeling that we experienced last year was something that everyone wants to experience, and not a lot of people get that chance,” said Taraschuk. “Definitely, that is in the back of our minds right now.

Lauren Taraschuk, left, and Lauren Warkentin fist bump for the Bisons win.

    “We definitely focus on one game at a time. I think once playoffs come that is definitely going to be a goal of ours. Not saying it is not a goal right now, but I think it will be more in the back of our heads as soon as playoffs come.”

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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Appetite for Destruction – GnR will rake in money in Regina

An LP of Guns N’ Roses debut album.

    “Are you out of your mind?”

    That was my first reaction when I saw the ticket prices for the Guns N’ Roses concert in Regina on Sunday at new Mosaic Stadium.

    When I looked at the Ticketmaster map to see how well ticket sales were going, I began to question if I was lost with some parts of today’s world.

    The prices were outrageous. Most seats were tagged at $165 and upwards plus fees. Floor seats were going for $275 plus fees. Admission for the standing pit area in front of the stage was $350 plus fees.

    Tickets are also available for $75 each plus fees, and a handful of those went on sale in the north end zone of new Mosaic. The Friday ploy is a standard entertainment industry practice were a handful of tickets are held for release a couple of days before the event.

    While the pricing was a shocker, the other shocker was tickets were selling. The Ticketmaster stadium map was dominated with white, which is the colour that marks a sold seat.

The back of a Guns N’ Roses debut album in LP format.

    The biggest concentration of open seats are in the two most expensive areas on the floor and in front of the stage. With that said, the floor is about 60 per cent sold.
    Doors open for Sunday’s show at 4:30 p.m., Our Lady Peace goes on stage at 6:15 p.m. and Guns N’ Roses hits the stage at 7:30 p.m.

    GnR’s current tour is dubbed the “Not in this Lifetime….. Tour,” and it features the reunion of core members in frontman Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.

    Anyone that is aware of this band’s history figured this reunion would never happen. Following the band’s heyday in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Slash departed in 1996 and McKagan followed in 1997. The feuds between Rose, 55, Slash, 52, and McKagan, 53, appeared to revolve around ego.

    A reunion of the three core members was always possible from the standpoint it could happen because way too much money could be made. That reason was a big factor in KISS reuniting with its original lineup in the late 1990s. Motley Crue would constantly fly apart and reunite bringing in boatloads of money in the process.

CDs of GnR’s Use Your Illusion albums.

    In the case of KISS and Motley Crue, there always seemed to be an underlying respect and actual brother type caring between the band members.

    In Guns N’ Roses case, it seemed like tensions were always so toxic that a reunion would never happen. At times, it seemed tensions were beyond toxic as far as a hate meter was concerned.

    When Rose, Slash, and McKagan, did get back together in early 2016 and their initial reunion grew into the band’s current tour, I know for myself I didn’t know how to take it.

    During my high school years, Guns N’ Roses was my favourite band. In my Grade 11 and 12 years, I became sort of minor cult figure in Winnipeg’s J.H. Bruns Collegiate singing GnR songs in the hallway and also performing “Don’t Cry” once at a gym rally. There were a number of classmates that just knew me by the nickname “Axl.”

    It should also be noted my high school sweetheart hated Guns N’ Roses in an extreme way, and that might have played a part in us breaking up right after her high school graduation ending a two-year relationship, but I digress.

    That part of my life would appear on the odd occasion during my university years in Regina. I sang “Patience” and “Don’t Cry” at the impromptu after party of the University of Regina Cougars award night in 1998 at the now defunct Bart’s On Broad in Regina. In my best suit out of all things, I sang in front of all the school’s athletic teams and a number of coaches, who clearly enjoyed the entertainment that night.

Guns N’ Roses concert VCR tapes from a show in Tokyo.

    Most of Guns N’ Roses songs had a rage and emotion to them that seemed linked to the late 1980s early 1990s time period. Even power ballad type songs like “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” “Don’t Cry” and the softer “Patience” required you get to that emotional point that was linked to a romantic relationship.

    You went to KISS to enjoy yourself and to Motley Crue to party. I paid $145.50 for a floor seat for Motley Crue’s farewell tour stop in Saskatoon in December of 2015, when they toured with Alice Cooper. Both groups put on iconic performances that night that were true to who they were.

    Guns N’ Roses was an attitude and you went to a show to act out in a pissed off way.

    Concerts in 1991 in St. Louis and 1992 in Montreal ended in riots, and part of the draw was seeing an act that was so unstable that mayhem might break out. I had a friend that went to the Montreal riot show, where GnR toured with Metallica, and he recalled seeing live fires all over the place.

A Guns N’ Roses VCR tape.

    In recent years even before the reunion, I often saw signs that the band wasn’t forgotten. The GnR tribute band The Nightrain seems to have been around forever.

    I would see Guns N’ Roses T-shirts on sale in respectable clothing outlets, which was something you would never see in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

    I would also see the odd young lady in her late teens wearing a GnR T-shirt or the T-shirt of another hard rock band that made its name in the 1980s. It always struck me how these young ladies knew of these bands.

    In early April, I was in Prince Albert covering hockey. I was checking out a retail store hours before the hockey game, when I visited with a really good looking young lady with blonde hair, who had to be 18 or 19 years of age.

    She was wearing a Guns N’ Roses tour T-shirt, and she had the bottom part tied to her waist, so the T-shirt fit tight to her body. She also donned black yoga pants and cute set of sandals.

    She looked amazing. I told her stories about the band in its heyday, and she was entertained and laughed with amusement at them. She was clearly in for the nostalgia.

    It struck me you would never see any young ladies dressed like her back in the band’s heyday, where GnR’s every day female fans dressed like tough head banger chicks with tight jeans or black leather pants. They also wore stylish footwear that could do damage in a fight. They still looked hot, but they had the image that they could really mess you up if given the chance.

    So far on their current tour, Guns N’ Roses sound like they are delivering. They are expected to have one of the top grossing tours of 2017.

A Guns N’ Roses poster from 1991.

    They played at Investors Group Field in Winnipeg on Thursday night. According to the review in the Winnipeg Free Press, which is one of the last bastions of good independent journalism in Canada, Guns N’ Roses turned back the clock and were as good as their best days in their prime ripping through a three-hour set.
    The show also started on time, which harkened back to the fact GnR concerts had a habit of starting notoriously late in the early 1990s.

    Having only casually followed news on the band since 1996, I am finding I can’t get myself back in that emotional place to go see one of their shows. On an impulse whim, I find I can’t dish out money for a ticket with the crazy prices that are being charged.

    Judging by Regina ticket sales, a lot of people want to see the reunited band, and they are willing to pay big amounts of money to do it.

    I hope they enjoy the show and the band impresses. For me, my passions in life have changed, so I believe I will take a pass on this concert.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.