Bisons Rewind: Stingers Stung

We saw Manitoba take the opening game at the 2018 U SPORTS National Championship on March 16 - their first win at the national tournament in nine years - and heard again yesterday right here on HBIC. The 4-0 victory posted on the Friday of the 2018 tournament showed just how good the top-ranked team in the nation could be on both sides of the puck, but they were in for a whole new challenge against the RSEQ champions and fourth-seeded Concordia Stingers in Saturday's semifinal game.

Concordia punched their ticket to the semifinal by absolutely dismantling the StFX X-Women by an 8-1 score in their quarterfinal game. Concordia jumped out to a 2-0 lead through one period of play, and it was a 3-1 score at the 7:14 mark of the second period. And then the bottom fell out for the X-Women as Concordia scored five goals over the remaining 31 minutes of the game to win their game by a converted touchdown.

Like the Bisons, the Stingers came into the tournament loaded with all sorts of scoring depth, a solid defence corps, and a stellar netminder. Claudia Dubois and Sophie Gagnon were the players who carried the load for the Stingers, but I'd be remiss in not mentioning players such as Stéphanie Lalancette, Audrey Belzile, and Keriann Schofield up front who gave the Stingers the scoring they needed to match up with any team in the nation.

On the back end, Marie-Joëlle Allard pushed the play for the Stingers as the graduating senior, and she had some solid players to help her such as her sister Audrey-Anne Allard, senior Caroll-Ann Gagné, and sophomore Alexandra Nikolidakis. Backstopping them was a goaltender who had gone to a few U SPORTS Canadian National Team camps in Katherine Purchase who had the talent and the mobility to be a difference-maker for the Stingers.

While it's not in the broadcast below, there was a bizarre moment during the first intermission where TJ and I were being screamed at by who we assumed was Katherine Purchase's dad. Apparently on either the U SPORTS or Western Radio broadcasts, they had français-ed her name from the English "Purchase" to something along the lines of "poor-shass", and the gentleman who found us in out makeshift broadcast booth let us know, in no uncertain terms, how awful we were, how we needed to show more respect for the athletes by getting their names right, and that Katherine hailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, not Quebec.

After explaining to him that we were the Manitoba radio broadcast and that we knew Katherine Purchase's resumé fairly well, he did apologize for the outburst despite still seeking for whomever was mispronouncing Katherine's last name. We did our best to direct him to both the Western Radio broadcast booth and the U SPORTS TV commentators so he could sort that out with them. Needless to say, that was a first for both TJ and I as we were there simply to call the game on behalf of UMFM.

In saying that, let's get to the broadcast because this one is longer since we played overtime and needed a shootout to decide who would advance to meet the Western Mustangs in the U SPORTS National Championship Final! Here are TJ and I on the UMFM broadcast of the second semifinal game on March 17 from the 2018 U SPORTS National Championship in London, Ontario!

Game Notes

• As you may have heard, Western downed the Sakatchewan Huskies by a 2-1 score to end any chance of there being an all-Canada West National Championship Final.
• This game featured another big goaltending matchup as 5'11" Lauren Taraschuk stood 200-feet away from 5'10" Katherine Purchase in the Concordia net.
• This might have been the most complete game, in my opinion, by the Bisons throughout the entire playoff run, including the Canada West playoffs.
• I said it yesterday, and I'll say it again today: Lauren Warkentin was amazing for the entire tournament in London.
• Jordy Zacharias was simply unstoppable in the shootout for her entire career.
• Lauren Taraschuk, pictured above, was unflappable in this game. Her composure and calmness was amazing while being under pressure all game. Her stop on Lalancette in overtime was like she knew what was coming. She was so good!
• It was said several times after the game ended that this game should have likely been the gold medal game. Both of these teams deserved to advance based upon their play in this game.

After battling for 70 minutes to a 1-1 draw, Jordy Zacharias and Alanna Sharman showed some offensive flair while Lauren Taraschuk dared the Concordia shooters to beat her and the Bisons were off to the U SPORTS National Championship Final with the 2-1 victory! They would meet the Mustangs in the their barn on Sunday, March 18, and we'll pick that game up tomorrow on the final episode of the Bisons Rewind from the 2017-2018 season!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!