Kabotoff Stops Sioux for First Career Win
October 26, 2001 | Men's Hockey
The Wisconsin men's hockey team defeated the favored North Dakota Fighting Sioux, 3-2 on Friday night to record its first win at UND since March 7, 1998. The Badgers used their special teams' play and with the help of junior netminder Scott Kabotoff (Sherwood Park, Alberta) and his career-high 32 saves, moved to 2-1-0 on the season and 1-0-0 in the WCHA. The win came in the first-ever game played between the two teams at the new Ralph Engelstad Arena, in front of a sellout crowd of 11, 547.
The Badgers never trailed in the game, leading 1-0 after the first period and 2-1 after the second. Senior Kent Davyduke (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) put the UW on the board first 4:05 into the game on a feed from rookie Alex Leavitt (Edmonton, Alberta), the first of his two assists in the game. The power-play goal was the fifth of the year for the UW.
In the second, UND knotted the game when freshman Brandon Bochenski capitalized on a UW turnover in the offensive zone, taking it in on Kabotoff and beating him high and gloveside to record his first goal as a Sioux. Senior Dave Hergert regained the lead for the Badgers at 12:55 when he deflected a shot from Dan Boeser (Savage, Minnesota) from the right point. For the senior from Bloomington, Minnesota, it was his first goal against a Sioux team and his first in 13 games, dating back to the end of last season.
UND bounced back to knot the game for the second time on the power play. Ryan Hale scored off of a rebound after Kevin Spiewak took the initial shot which was saved by Kabotoff.
Senior captain Andy Wheeler (Duluth, Minn.) notched the game-winning tally at 15:12 of the third period, when his shot was originally blocked by the UND defender. Sioux goaltender Andy Kollar lost sight of the puck and Wheeler flipped the puck in over Kollar.
The Sioux outshot the Badgers 34-20, including a 26-14 advantage after two periods of play. Wisconsin's penalty kill stopped the Sioux on seven of eight chances in the win over the 2001 NCAA Runners up.
The teams meet again Saturday night at 7:35 p.m. in the series finale. Wisconsin looks for the sweep on Sioux ice for the first time since March 1-2, 1996.
