Official Game Summary

Glastonbury, CT Aug 6, 2009. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Summer 2009 season.

8/6/09 - The Guppies looked to get back to .500 Thursday night as they faced off against the Avalanche. The Lanche have owned the Guppies ever since the Gupps beat the Avs in the 2008 Zrink Xmas Tourney Championship game. Including an impressive comeback victory earlier this season, in which the Avs scored 5 straight goals to over come a four goal Guppies lead. Thursday the Gupps looked to get some revenge. Things didn't looked good for for our heroes as the Avs scored two quick goals for the 2-0 lead. Brian Kelly (2-3-5) finally got the Guppies on the board as he buried a pass from Rob Murphy (1-3-4). The Avs responded quickly scoring a minute later to recapture the two goal lead. Luckily, Keith Millen (5-1-6)was just getting warmed up! Mills scored his first of the night to make it 3-2. Later in the Half, Jason Zito (1-2-3) scored to tie the game at Three. Things were looking up for the Gupps as their goalie "Ollie", who was signed just moments prior to the game, was making several big saves. The Lanche, beat Ollie one last time in the half  to open up a 4-3 lead. However, the biggest event of the half was the altercation between Jon Stevenson and the Lanche's leading scorer Tyler Bouchard. Both players swung sticks at each other then couldn't play nice in the penalty box which lead to the refs ejecting both players. While losing Stevenson is a huge loss to the Gupps defensive corps, the loss of Bouchard was even bigger to the Lanche. Look at the stats page and it's easy to see he's their offense.

To start the Second Half, Millen scored again to tie the game at four. It was back and forth all night as the Avs again scored to take the 5-4 lead, only to have Millen tie the game again, this time at Five! The Lanche opened things up midway through the Half scoring twice in 1:30 of play to take the two goal lead. Millen rescued the Guppies chances for victory again as he skated into the zone and fired a shot into the Avs net. Three minutes later, Kelly scored the game tying goal as the Guppies stepped up the pressure. However, Kelly's goal was the first of three goals scored .26 seconds. 15 seconds after Kelly's goal,  the Avs regained the lead, sneaking a player behind the Gupps defense. 11 seconds after that Murphy, sniped a great shot under the crossbar! The two teams skated each other into the dek in the final minutes of play. With less then a minute remaining, Kelly controlled the puck in the Avs Zone. Sending a pass out to Murphy, who was on the red line, he fired a shot on net. Millen was skating through the slot and deflected the shot past the Lanche's netminder, giving the Guppie's their first lead of the night. The Avalanche tried to tie the game but were thwarted at every turn by the Gupps defense.

With the win the Guppies move to .500 and climbed into Third Place in the B-League standings. The Gupps are locked into Third as the teams play their final two games. The Fish's next opponent is the 2nd place House Builders which is scheduled for Thursday night at 9pm. The following week the Guppies face off against the 4th Place Avalanche. Tickets are available for both games.   .

SIDE NOTES:

- Brian Mulcahy and Tim Poulin were healthy scratches

- With Andy Pettola, Joe Linskey, and Greg Marshall unable to play net Thursday night the Guppies went to the Rink with no goalie. Luckily, with help from Frank the ref, the Guppies were able to land House Brothers netminder, "Ollie"! Ollie did a great job in the nets...Thanks!

- New Rule! Thanks to Dave Armenia's comment to a ref late in the game the Guppies lost a Power Play opportunity. The team agreed that moving forward if another player is convicted of the same type of offense, said player will automatically be awarded the honor of purchasing the 30-pack the following week. This Rule will be known as the "ARMENIA RULE"!

-Suns Out Guns Out! Since Murph started wearing his sleeveless t-shirt under his jersey the Guppies are undefeated. Coincidence?  You decide!

BOX SCORES: