Official Press Release

An "Army" of Fire Ants Beat The Guppies 9-7!

Glastonbury, CT July 18, 2006. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Summer 2006 season.

7/18/2006- Tuesday night the Guppies faced off against a strong and very "deep" Fire Ants hockey team. "They looked to have more guys than normal" stated Guppies forward Jay Zito. "No matter, we take it as a compliment that so many of their guys want to play against us".  At the drop of the puck the Ants took control and tested Joe Linskey early. The Ants would strike first but the Guppies' Dave Armenia (1-0-1) was quick to answer as he tipped in a rebound from a Keith Millen (2-2-4) shot. Only .40 seconds later the Ants would have the 3-1 lead as they answered with two quick goals of their own. Midway thru the half Tim Poulin (2-1-3) would pull the Guppies within one when he received a pass from Zito (0-1-1). The Ants would make it 4-2,  before Brian Kelly (0-4-4) found Millen in the high slot for his first goal of the night. The Guppies continued their attack on the Ants net but missed several great scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, Linskey was having a problem stopping shots to his short side. The Fire Ants scored THREE short side goals on Linskey. In Joe's defense, the Guppies defense allowed several odd man opportunities. The Ants would score again to take the 5-3 lead at the half.

The second Half wasn't much kinder to the Guppies as the Fire Ants scored twice in the first ten minutes to open up a 7-3 lead. The Guppies looked to be getting themselves back into the game when Millen scored his second of the night. However, a little over a minute later The Fire Ants would regain the four goal lead scoring to make it 8-4. Down but not out, The Guppies made a late push. Placing Millen and Poulin on the same line, the Guppies made it 8-5 on Poulin's second of the night, scored with 4:38 remaining. Linskey would make a great save only moments later on a 2-1 opportunity to keep the Fish's comeback drive alive. Rob Murphy (2-2-4) scored with 3:59 remaining to make it 8-6! The Guppies took a timeout with an offensive zone face off and 3:36 remaining. The timeout paid off as Millen won the face off back to Murphy who fired a high shot into the Ants net. With 3:29 remaining the Guppies had cut the Fire Ants lead to 8-7. The Fish controlled the play late in the game but were unable to score the equalizer as the Fire Ants added the empty net goal.  The Guppies lost their first game of the season but the fans in Guppie Nation were excited to see the rally late in the second half. "I'm happy to see they never mailed it in" stated guppies fan Raymond Stanz from Killingworth, CT.

The Gupps look to get back to their winning ways as they face off against the Ball Smashers next Tuesday (7/25) at 10pm. Tickets are available and will be selling at the reduced "West Coast" price.

SIDE NOTES:

- Mike Halle was a scratch Tuesday night again. Mike has all but won the "Brian Blair Award" for the Summer 2006 season.

- Keith Millen received his first penalty in Guppie blue Tuesday night when he was called for high sticking midway thru the second half. Millen had gone two and a half season with a clean record and has one two Guppie "Lady Byng Awards" during that time.

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