Official Press Release

   

District 5 Sneaks Past Aging Guppies 6-5

Glastonbury, CT October 9, 2005. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Spring 2005 season.

 

October 9, 2005- In  a rematch of the Summer 2005 Puck C Championship game the Guppies faced off against  District 5 in a Sunday Matinee. The Crowd was expecting a great game and they weren't disappoint as the action was fast and furious from the opening face off. Early on, most of the play was held up in the neutral zone as both teams played some solid defense in the attempt not to fall behind early in the game. District 5 had several good opportunities to take the lead early, as Rob Murphy (1-1-2) was called for two separate penalties in the opening moments of the game.  Killingworth was able to kill off both penalties on some great goaltending from Joe Linskey. Late in the First Half,  District 5 would take the one goal lead on a 2-0 down low.  At the half the Guppies and District 5 were locked in a classic struggle, with the D-5 team holding the one goal edge.

To start the Second Half the Guppies changed their starting line (Zito, Millen, Murphy, and Kelly) in an attempt to jump start their offense. The gamble paid off, as the Guppies drew a penalty and went on the Power Play. With the man advantage Jason Zito (2-1-3) found Rob Murphy on the point, Murphy fired a low hard shot into the D-5 net. Only moments later, the Gupps would take the lead as Sean Howley (1-1-2) found zito skating down the left side of the dek. Zito took the pass and fire a shot into the upper right corner of the net. However, the lead was short lived as D-5 scored the equalizer only .29 seconds later. In the Second Half, unlike the First, offense was easy to come by. Howley would give the Gupps the one goal lead again only a minute after the District tied the game. Just before the midpoint of the half, D-5 would score again to tie the game at Three. The Guppies were struggling later in the game to find offense, but they would gain the lead again when Marc Crayton (0-1-1) made a great play to feed Zito off an offensive zone faceoff. However, as they did all night when the Guppies scored a goal, the District came back to tie the game at Four only .10 seconds later. It got worse for the fish when .27 later D-5 scored to take the lead, with just under eight minutes remaining in the half. The Guppies offense tried to get the equalizer but were turned aside as the D-5 netminder was strong down the  stretch. With 2:32 remaining the Guppies took a time out and tried to work out a strategy to knot up the game at Five. With 1:42 remaining Brian Kelly (1-1-2) took  a pass from Murphy and fired it into the D-5 net. The Guppie faithful jumped to their feet with Kelly's goal but the celebration was short lived again, as the District scored with just .30 remaining. The Guppies pulled Linskey for the extra attacker but were unable to tie the score. District 5 managed to escaped the Guppies yet again! "Losing in an OT shoot out to these guys in last season's Championship Game and then losing this one with .30 left, It's tough!" stated Guppies Defenseman Mike Halle. He continued "But we know have a lot more games to play"

 

SIDE NOTES:

-Scratches: Brian Mulcahy, John Carroll, Jon Stevenson

- Guppies have signed former CCSU standout Sean Howley to a 10 game tryout contract. The Guppies have been know to sign many Blue Devil Alumni. To date 12 members of CCSU's alumni have worn the Guppies blue at some time.

- The Guppies have a tough task ahead of them when they face off against Team Midas Tuesday night. Midas is a member of the Zrink Puck  A division. Not to mention the Guppies need to win or tie Tuesday night to avoid falling below .500 for the first time since 2001.

BOX SCORES:

First Half:

17:59 - Guppies - Penalty - Murphy (hooking)

11:13 - District 5 - Penalty - Mokrycki (slashing)

11:13 - Guppies - Penalty - Murphy (slashing)

  9:06 - District 5 - Penalty - Valente (holding)

  2:45 - District 5 - Goal - Anderson (Valente)

Second Half:

19:44 - District 5 - Penalty - Jongebloed (highstick)

19:22 - Guppies - Goal - Murphy (Zito, Kelly) Power Play Goal

17:53 - Guppies - Goal - Zito (Howley, Halle)

17:24 - District 5 - Goal - M. Gould (Aloi)

16:30 - Guppies - Goal - Howley (Armenia)

11:29 - District 5 - Goal - Anderson

  8:24 - Guppies - Goal - Zito (Crayton)

  8:14 - District 5 - Goal - M. Gould

  7:47 - District 5 - Goal - D. Gould (Mokrycki)

  1:42 - Guppies - Goal - Kelly (Murphy, Millen)

    :30 - District 5 - Goal - Anderson  Game Winning Goal

 

Shots on Goal:

Guppies: 30

District 5: 36