Official Press Release

Glastonbury, CT August 22, 2006. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Summer 2006 season.

8/22/2006- The Guppies almost had a tragic end to their regular season as they faced off against District 5. It seems that the start of the game had been changed from 10pm to 9pm but the Guppies weren't notified by league officials. "I didn't hear about a schedule change and I don't normally check the league website once we place the schedule on our site" stated Guppies Captain Brian Kelly "This is the first time this has ever happened". Luckily, Jon Graney and Mike Halle got to the game early and notified the rest of the team. Also, luckily for the Guppies, the rink was running behind schedule. When the Fish took to the floor they only had Halle, Jay Zito,  Kelly, and Graney to start the game. They managed to hold the District 5 to only two goals during the first six minutes of the game before Keith Millen arrived to give the Fish a full line. Slowly but surely the rest of the team filed in. With the reinforcements in place the Guppies looked to get even. Zito (1-1-2) scored only minutes after the arrival of Millen to cut the District's lead to one.  With just under five minutes remaining D5 would score again to take the two goal lead. However, the Guppies were determined to not let this game get away, as Dan Pequita (1-0-1) scored to make it 3-2 bad guys.  The Guppies would tie the score at three when Marc Crayton (0-1-1) started a great passing play that ended with Millen (2-1-3) scoring his first goal of the night. At the half the Guppies managed to pull even with some timely goals and solid goaltending from Graney.

In the Second Half,  both teams skated hard looking to grab the upper hand. Eventually, D5 would beat Graney to take the 4-3 lead. However, with over 7 minutes remaining the Guppies would go on the Power Play. During the man advantage, Kelly (0-3-3) would find Rob Murphy (1-0-1) set up on the far post. Murphy would bury Kelly's pass to tie the game at four. In the final moments of the game the two teams would battle for the game winner but both goalies were equal to the task.

In Overtime, Keith Millen would take a pass from Brian Mulcahy (0-1-1) and fire a low shot into the District's net ......Guppies Win, Guppies Win, The GUPPIES WIN!! The victory secured first place for the Fish and a bye to the league's Championship game on September 5th. Ticket for the Finals go on sale on Wednesday August 30th at 830am.  The Guppies will play the winner of the semi-finals game between the Fire Ants and Ball Smashers on Tuesday August 29th.

SIDE NOTES:

-Joe Linskey and Tim Poulin were both healthy scratches. Poulin has missed 3 out of the last 4 games and is now challenging Mike Halle for the Brian Blair Award.

-Rob Murphy and the fam got to hang out with Lord Stanley's Cup this past week. An AP photo has been placed on the Guppies home page.

-Tuesday's game was the Second time that the Guppies and District 5 went to Overtime to settle a game. The teams are 1-1-0 in those games with the District's win coming during the Summer 2005 Championship game. They beat the Guppies in a shoot out.

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