SPORTS
UW sweeps UND
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Sunday, December 9, 2001
What a difference a weekend can make.
Before Friday night’s game against North Dakota, the UW men’s hockey team was on a downward slide, winless in its last four games and below the .500 mark with a seemingly impossible schedule ahead.
But with the Badgers’ first home sweep of the season, capped off by a 3-1 victory on Saturday night, things are again looking up for Wisconsin.
“Morale is high and it hasn’t been high,” senior forward Matt Doman said. “The snowball was going downhill for us. I think we took two really big steps this weekend trying to get that thing pushed up the hill again.”
Sophomore forward Rene Bourque was considered the hero of the series. Bourque, who scored the last of five unanswered goals and the game-winner in overtime in Friday’s 7-6 victory, provided the stalemate breaker again on Saturday night.
With 6:17 left in regulation and the score tied at one goal apiece, freshman center Alex Leavitt came out with the puck from behind North Dakota’s net and took a slap shot. UND goalie Jake Brandt stopped the shot, but the Badgers were not to be denied as Bourque was left standing on the right side of the net to put in the rebound. Assistant captain Kent Davyduke added an empty-netter with 4.8 seconds left to end the game, as Wisconsin claimed the 3-1 win.
“I think Renee has probably played his best hockey I’ve seen him play the last two weekends,” Doman said. “He’s a goal scorer but he’s really been creating a lot of chances for himself by the way he’s been working.”
The scoring began at 9:16 of the first period with UW’s Matt Hussey who, while falling down, slid the puck to Brad Winchester to give the Badgers the early lead. Then North Dakota’s Ryan Bayda knotted the game up with a goal at 1:55 of the second period, sneaking the puck past Bruckler’s left glove side. The score would stay tied until Bourque’s instrumental game-winner in the third.
Not to be overlooked was the play of goaltender Bernd Bruckler. Bruckler, given the nod when head coach Jeff Sauer decided Scott Kabotoff needed a rest, stopped a total of 45 shots in yet another outstanding performance. Wisconsin’s freshman goaltender earned the second win of his young college career.
Bruckler faced the Sioux’s best heat all night with pucks routinely being deflected out of the rink — a couple even landing in the mid-upper deck. His highlight came at 1:45 in the third period on a slapshot by UND’s Tim Skarperud.
After the puck seemed to slip past the goalie, Bruckler managed to turn all the way around and save the potential goal just as the puck was about to cross over the line. The goal would have given North Dakota the lead.
The victory puts the Badgers in a solid position as the fourth place team in the WCHA standings, with games versus the top three teams upcoming in the second half of the season.
But in the meantime, the Badgers will have over two weeks off before hosting the Badger Hockey Showdown at the Bradley Center on Dec. 27 to savor the sweep over the traditional WCHA power.
“The most important thing is we played well [enough] to win,” Sauer said. “We put ourselves in great shape in the WCHA race. We’ve got to use it as momentum.”
