Kevin Gorg, an FSN analyst, was the winning goaltender on the 1985 State Championship team for Burnsville and played in goal for the Des Moines Buccaneers before enrolling at the University of St. Thomas where he was All-Conference his final two seasons and won three conference titles.  He's had over 5 years of coaching experience at Burnsville and St. Thomas.

Below is a list of statements featured on KFAN's Dan "Common Man" Cole's page that Gorg has been quoted to say.  Enjoy.

2013

Kevin Gorg: "Up in places like Warroad and Roseau, they play hockey year-round"

Kevin Gorg: previewing Blackhawks/Wild Playoff Game 1, PA asked 'What if he get a 2-0 lead in this game tonight?' Gorg responded, "I almost think you're better off if this game stays scoreless for a long time."

Kevin Gorg: "You're almost better off with a guy like Ponder because you've got Adrian Peterson"

2012

Kevin Gorg: during Gophers/UND broadcast, "you know, sometimes it can be good for your team to
go on the penalty kill"

Kevin Gorg: said 'Joey Miller is looking like Wayne Gretzky setting up in his office"

Kevin Gorg: when talking about the movie Moneyball, he said "You remember where you were
when the Twins beat Oakland"

Kevin Gorg: when talking about Gopher football team winning a National Championship, he said
"People think it can't happen, Why...I don't know?"

Kevin Gorg: on horses after Kentucky Derby, "They all lose 100's of pounds when they run the
Derby...they weigh over a ton"

Kevin Gorg: "I would rather watch a losing team outdoors than a pennant race in the dome"

2011

Kevin Gorg: "The Minnesota Wild have plenty of top-end talent"

Kevin Gorg: referring to High School Hockey Sectional Playoffs, "Braemar Ice Garden this
time of year is like Mecca"

Kevin Gorg: Compared the rivalry of St. Thomas and Gustavus Adolphus Women's hockey
teams to the Michigan/Ohio St. Football rivalry

Kevin Gorg: "Horses are athletes and so are the men and woman that risk their lives to hop
aboard and ride those horses, I know the jockeys at Canterbury Park and you want to talk about
strong, we just had a gymnast in here, they are equally strong, these people are unbelievable".

Kevin Gorg: after naming Andrew Brunette his #2 athlete in Minnesota history, "His goal to
beat Colorado in Game 7 changed our lives forever"

Kevin Gorg: "Jared Allen's mullet intimidates the opposing player, especially if they are a
rookie, because they may think you're crazy"

Kevin Gorg: said an on-court battle between Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson and Kevin
Love 'would be a good battle'

Kevin Gorg: said people should play hooky to watch the Lynx at noon

Kevin Gorg: stated that Michael Jenkins is a huge addition. To support that position, he
went with Jenkins underperformed in Atlanta because Atlanta had TOO many good offensive
skill players and Jenkins was under-used

Kevin Gorg: "The Vikings are easily a 10-6 team on paper"

Kevin Gorg: "Phil Loadholt is a young developing stud"

Enjoy.

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State Rankings - Dec. 18th

The following Rankings were released on December 18th on the MN Hockey Hub but are provided by Let's Play Hockey newspaper and the Minnesota Hockey Coaches Association.  This is a quick round-up of how each team faired this weekend, allowing us to get a better view at how the next rankings might play out.  Here's how the top teams played this week for both Class A & AA...

Class AA

1. Hill-Murray  6-0-0
Beat South St. Paul 4-0 on Thursday and beat North St. Paul 5-3 on Saturday.  Will take on #8 Duluth East on Thursday, December 26th.

2. Elk River  5-3-0
Lost to #3 Eden Prairie 3-1 on Thursday, lost to #5 Edina 6-3 on Friday, and lost to Grand Rapids 3-2 on Saturday.  Will host Forest Lake next Saturday.

3. Eden Prairie  7-1-0
Beat #2 Elk River on Thursday 3-1, Beat Grand Rapids 7-4 on Friday, and fell to #5 Edina 4-2 on Saturday.  Will play Lakeville North on Thursday, December 26th.

4. Blaine  7-1-0
Beat Robbinsdale Armstrong 11-0 on Thursday.  Will play Maple Grove on Thursday, December 26th.

5. Edina  7-2-0
Beat Grand Rapids 4-3 in OT on Thursday, beat #2 Elk River 6-3 on Friday, and beat #3 Eden Prairie 4-2 on Saturday.  Will play Breck on Thursday.

6. St. Thomas Academy  3-1-1
Beat Tartan 6-2 on Saturday.  Will play Burnsville on Thursday, December 26th.

7. Wayzata  6-3-0
Beat Maple Grove 4-3 in OT on Saturday.  Will play Moorhead on Thursday, December 26th.

8. Duluth East  5-2-0
Beat Anoka 5-1 on Thursday and beat Andover 3-1 on Saturday.  Will play #1 Hill-Murray on Thursday, December 26th.

9. Benilde-St. Margaret's  7-2-1
Beat Moorhead 9-1 on Friday and beat Duluth Marshall 4-3 on Saturday.  Will play Bloomington Jefferson on Thursday, December 26th.

10. Prior Lake  4-2-0
Lost to Burnsville 6-2 on Saturday.  Will play Minnetonka on Thursday, December 26th.

Class A

1. Breck  7-0-1
Beat Rochester Lourdes 12-0 on Saturday.  Will play #5 Edina on Thursday, December 26th.

2. Hermantown  6-1-0
Beat Rogers 3-1 on Saturday.  Will play Red Wing on Thursday, December 26th.

3. East Grand Forks  7-1-1
Tied #5 Warroad 2-2 on Friday.  will play Superior on Thursday, December 26th.

4. St. Cloud Cathedral  8-0-0
Beat Prairie Center 6-1 on Friday.  Will play Sauk Rapids on Thursday, December 26th.

5. Warroad  6-2-1
Tied #3 East Grand Forks 2-2 on Friday.  Will play Grafton/Park River (N.D.) on Thursday, December 26th.

6. Duluth Marshall  5-3-0
Fell to Benilde-St. Margaret's 4-3 on Saturday.  Will play Appleton United on Thursday, December 26th.

7. Mankato West  9-0-0
Beat Rochester John Marshall 6-0 on Thursday and beat Le Sueur-Henderson 6-3 on Saturday.  Will play Madison Edgewood on Thursday, December 26th.

8. Totino-Grace  4-4-1
Beat St. Paul Academy 3-1 on Saturday.  Will play #6 St. Thomas Academy on Thursday, December 26th.

9. Mahtomedi  3-3-0
Beat Henry Sibley 5-2 on Saturday.  Will play Grand Rapids on Thursday, December 26th.

10. Thief River Falls  4-5-0
Beat International Falls 7-0 on Friday.  Will play WSFLG Blizzard on Thursday, December 26th.

Enjoy!

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SBN College Hockey Power Rankings -> College Hockey Rankings: St. Cloud State On the Rise

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After a long break in action, and literally what feels like an eternity since the Bulldogs have played at home, Minnesota Duluth hosts two conference games this weekend against ex-wcha rival and current nchc-rival (unless they decided to become friends) the St. Cloud State Huskies.

Last year tUMD took to the Huskies and narrowly defeated our sister dogs by a 2-1 Friday score before falling 5-1 at Amsoil Arena.  As we know, the Huskies went on to to compete in the Frozen Four last year, so hopefully that should give you a little piece of mind.

St. Cloud State owns the all-time record at 56-40-8, but are just 2-2-1 against the Bulldogs in the last five outing.  As it turns out, the Huskies don't prefer Amsoil Arena as much as the old DECC, finding only two wins in six games in the relatively new arena.

Wait, Who's Playing?

We'll start the preview with the more playful puppy, the St. Cloud State Huskies.  The Huskies lost Hobey Baker winner and Hermantown native Drew LeBlanc, as well as three other key components to what generated wins last season, but they returned 22 players.

Sophomore Jonny Brodzinski leads the team in scoring with 5 goals and 7 helpers for 12 points, followed by senior Nic Dowd and redshirt-sophomore David Morley with 11 points.  With the scoring power this team possess, it's hard to argue the fact that they currently have the best win percentage in all of college hockey (.833).

Between the pipes stands junior netminder Ryan Faragher, who currently stands at third in nation with a winning percentage of .850.  His talent may be slightly masked by St. Cloud State's ability to block shots and play effective defense, but slipping a puck by Faragher is no easy task.

Scoring Leaders:

	Pos.	(GP)  G-A-Pts.	Pts/G
Jonny Brodzinski	F	(12)  5-7-12	1.00
Nic Dowd	F	(12)  8-3-11	0.92
David Morley	F	(12)  3-8-11	0.92
Andrew Prochno	D	(12)  2-7-9	0.75
Niklas Nevalainen	D	(10)  2-4-6	0.60

St. Cloud State Jock Jammer:

On the other, the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs are all rested and ready to play after spending last weekend playing this "bye" team for the second time this season.  The Bulldogs will play at Amsoil Arena for the first time in six weeks, going back to Saturday, October 26th against Notre Dame.

In their last series, the Bulldogs split with the #1 ranked Minnesota Gophers, leaving the sister school on Sunday after routing the home team 6-2.

Despite leaving Minneapolis two weekends ago without a point, freshman Alex Iafallo leads the Bulldogs in points with 10, followed by sophomore Tony Cameranesi and junior Caleb Herbert with 8 points apiece.

In net, both senior Aaron Crandall and Matt McNeely have seen playing time.  Crandall had earned 8 straight starts, a career high, until Friday's game against the gophers.  Crandall sports a 4-4-0 record, 2.67 GAA, and a .897 save percentage in 8 games, while McNeely exhibits a 2-1-0 record, 1.78 GAA, and a .927 save percentage in 5 games of action.

Scoring Leaders:

	Pos.	(GP)  G-A-Pts.	Pts/G
Alex Iafallo	F	(12)  5-5-10	0.83
Tony Cameranesi	F	(12)  2-6-8	0.67
Caleb Herbert	F	(12)  2-6-8	0.67
Willie Raskob	D	(11)  0-6-6	0.55
Carson Soucy	D	(10)  0-4-4	0.40

2013 UMD Men's Hockey History Intro:

Let's Compare:

Bulldogs		Huskies
6-5-1	…Overall…	9-1-2
2-2-0	NCHC	5-1-0
2-1-1	Home	3-1-2
4-4-0	Away	6-0-0
2-4-0	Friday	4-1-1
4-1-1	Saturday	5-0-1
2.92	Offense	3.58
2.50	Defense	1.83
19.0	PIM/G	8.8
17.2%	Power Play	17.6%
87.5%	Penalty Kill	83.8%
32.2	Shots/G	35.1
25.5	Opponent S/G	24.3

Faceoff Facts:

The Huskies are undefeated on re-match games, which have all been played on Saturdays, displaying a 5-0-1 record.  They're also in one of three teams in the NCAA to rank in the top 10 for both scoring
offense (3.58 g/gm) and defense (1.83 ga/gm).

Senior forward Nic Dowd has played in 95 consecutive games for the Huskies, while classmate Cory Thorson has played in 91 consecutive contests for the Huskies. Dowd has 38 goals and 54 assists in his career and is eight points from hitting the 100-point plateau. Dowd would become the 25th player in the history of DI hockey at SCSU to do so.

SCSU junior defenseman Andrew Prochno and sophomore forward Joey Benik both own four-game point streaks heading into the series at UMD. Prochno has one goal and five assists in his last four games.

The Bulldogs have picked up their game in the last four outings against very difficult teams in North Dakota and Minnesota.  In that 4-game stretch UMD is averaging 3.75 goals per game, 33 shots per game, and a power play at 30.4%.  Again, those numbers were against long-time rival North Dakota and #1 ranked Minnesota, with both series being away from home.

Despite being blanked in both ends of the Minnesota series, rookie left winger Alex Iafallo still tops the Bulldogs in scoring with 10 points. Iafallo is part of the nation’s sixth-highest scoring rookie class (an even 3.00 points per night from freshmen). He also ranks second among NCHC freshman scoring.

The 1.78 goals-against average sophomore Matt McNeely has com- piled thus far is second only to Denver senior Sam Brittain’s 1.66 GAA mark among NCHC puckstoppers.

UMD is partnering with the 148th Fighter Wing and the Salvation Army for the annual Toyland Express Toy Drive. Fans are encouraged to bring a unwrapped toy to AMSOIL Arena that night.

The Verdict:

St. Cloud State is currently ranked #3 in the SBN College Hockey Rankings, #2 in the USCHO Poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Poll.  Minnesota Duluth sits at #20 in the USCHO Poll, but has proven to be a constant threat, especially as of lately.  Unlike the Ohio State football team, UMD has battled difficult teams and found triumphs in each series.

One common statistic between the two teams?  Neither played very well on Friday night's game against the Colorado College Tigers.

Both Teams are coming out of a Thanksgiving bye week, so everyone should be rested and healthy for what should be a great series.  The Huskies are coming out off a win Colorado Springs, but the Bulldogs rode home after dismantling the Gophers.

This should make a for a great series, and now that all the snow has stopped, everyone will have the ability to get out and welcome the Pups back home.

See Ya There!

Enjoy.

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