Taras’s Bio
Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada, Taras began his hockey career playing youth hockey with multiple associations. At 16, he moved away from home and laced up his goalie skates with the Moose Jaw AAA Warriors of the Saskatchewan Midget AAA Hockey League. From there, he played two seasons in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Humboldt Broncos.
After his Junior career, Taras brought his game south of the border and played 4 years with the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs. In his first season with the Bulldogs, UMD captured the McNaughton Cup as regular-season champions. During the 1993-1994 season, Taras was invited and represented Team Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland competing for the starting job with NHL’er, Manny Legace.
At the completion of his senior season at UMD, Taras dressed for 2 exhibition games alongside Kelly Hrudey and Chris Terreri of the San Jose Sharks in the fall of 1996. He played 4 years in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays, Richmond Renegades, Charlotte Checkers, and Trenton Titans and was called up to the Lowell Lock Monsters of the AHL, backing up Roberto Luongo. As a member of the Stingrays, Taras and his teammates were the first team in the 10-year history of the league to win both the regular season and playoff championships in 1996-1997. During his minor pro career, Taras was able to play and learn the game from others who’ve coached or played at the highest level; Bob Murdoch (head coach Team Canada), Rick Vaive (head coach South Carolina Stingrays), Bruce Cassidy (head coach Trenton Titans, now coach of the Boston Bruins), and Bruce Boudreau (head coach Lowell Loch Monsters, now coach of the Vancouver Canucks).
Taras began coaching with the Cloquet Bantam AA in 2000-2001. The following year, he worked with the goalies for the College of St. Scholastica Saints, a Div. III NCAA school. From there, he would be the goalie coach for 4 years at his alma mater, the UMD Bulldogs, helping them reach the Frozen Four in Boston in 2004. He founded and started Goalies Matter, an apparel and goalie camp brand in 2016. He has worked with multiple association goalies during the winter months and held the position of goalie coach for the Duluth East Bantam AA team in 2021-2022. Currently, Taras is the goalie coach for the Spring 14U CCM High Performance boys team, head coach of the Fall Tier I 14U CCM High Performance boys team, Minnesota Hockey District 11 Goalie Coordinator, and has his Level 5 USA Hockey Certification. He was the goalie coach for the Duluth Northern Stars girls high school team in 2021-2022