Official Game Summary

Glastonbury, CT May 7, 2009. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Spring 2009 season.

05/07/2009-  The Guppies entered their game against Jimmy Stickhandle in desperate need of a win.  As such, you would've thought the Guppies would come out and play desperately, but before the Guppies fans could find their seats after the national anthem, Jimmy Stickhandle had put two goals on the board in less than two minutes.  The pre-game debate about whether Millen had brought the 30 pack or not might have been the reason for the slow Guppies start, but we've seen this type of start from the Guppies the previous seven games so that excuse isn't going to work.  Speaking of Millen time, Millen (3, 0) would get the Guppies to within one goal when Super Dave Armenia (0, 1) and Rob Murphy (0, 3) set Millen up for the 1st of his three goals. Jimmy Stickhandle would make it a two goal lead again less than a minute later.  It appeared the Guppies had Jimmy Stickhandle right where they wanted them as the Guppies would score three straight goals to take a 4 - 3 half-time lead.  Brian Mulcahy looking very much like Sergei Samsonov(1, 0) started three goal spurt on a goal set up by Marc Crayton (1, 2) and Tim Poulin (1, 2) as Mulcahy would dance around the defense, deke the goalie and score.  Millen would get his second goal of the night being set up by Jason Zito (0, 1) to tie the score at 3 apiece.  Marc Crayton would put the Guppies up 4-3 on a nice set up from Poulin and Murphy

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Well Guppies fans, if you thought the Guppies started the first half flat, words can't describe how the Guppies started the second half.  Although it took Jimmy Stickhandle almost 8 minutes to tie the game at 4 apiece, it looked like the Guppies were swimming up stream as Jimmy Stickhandle controlled the play and kept it in the Guppies zone for what seemed like forever.  Guppies net minder Joe Linskey kept the Guppies in the game as he stood on his head.  All good things must come to an end and Joe Linskey could no longer stand on his head and Jimmy Stickhandle would take the lead 5 - 4 with less than 12 minutes to go.  The resilient Guppies would tie it up on Millen's 3rd goal of the night from Murphy.  Less than 30 seconds later, Marc Crayton would win a rare face-off in the Guppies zone and Tim Poulin knew what to do with the face off win as he took the puck, jetted by the Stickhandle defense and went in alone on the Stickhandle goalie to give the Guppies their last lead of the game.  Less than 10 seconds later, Stickhandle would tie the score.

Noticeably absent in this write up until now is the Guppies captain, Brian Kelly.  It appeared that neither team was going to budge at this point with the score tied.  The Guppies captain would change all of that, uncharacteristically.  In what Brian Mulcahy described as deja vu all over again, Captain Kelly tried to carry the puck out of the Guppies zone and turned it over to a Jimmy Stickhandle forward who walked in alone on Linskey and put Jimmy Stickhandle ahead for good.  For those of you who missed the last epic Guppies, Stickhandle game, flashback to that game...while the Guppies were up by a goal and killing a penalty in the final moments of the game, Captain Kelly tried to send a clearing pass down the length of the rink from behind his own net.  His clearing pass caught the outside of the net and eventually lead to the game tying goal, thus the deja vu all over again line from Mulcahy.  Stickhandle went on to win that game in overtime.  Stickhandle would not need overtime this game as they added an empty netter in the closing seconds as the Guppies frantically tried to tie the score.
Although it kills this Guppies beat writer to say it, don't be surprised if you see your favorite Guppies' player at the golf course a little bit early this season.  The Guppies face a very large hurdle to get themselves into the play-offs and to avoid working on their golf games earlier than they like.  Guppies' assistant captains Crayton and Murphy were overheard saying that a little rest and relaxation is always better in Hilton Head after you've won a Zrink Championship and you have a new t-shirt to wear.

SIDE NOTES:

- Scratches for tonight's' game included Dan Pequita (lower body injury), Mike Halle (upper body injury) and Jon Stevenson (alarm clock malfunction).

- The Guppies sports psychologist, Dr. Feelgood is rumored to be flying in this week from the Isle of Fiji to sit down with Captain Kelly and perhaps perform an intervention.  At the very least, perhaps he can give all the Guppies captains some pre-game and half-time speech tips.

- Under the Z-Rink's new scheduling system. The Guppies, who are are currently in 5th place through their first eight games, will face off against the 7th Ranked Monster and 6th Ranked Fire Ants in the final two weeks of the season.

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