Guppies are Fishing for a Championship in 2011

For Guppies nation, it may seem like ages since the Guppies were all but written off for dead and for all intents and purposes, they were dead.  Back to back to back to back losing seasons and no end in sight to the losing or the championship drought.  The Guppies were re-writing the history books & it wasn't pretty.

A front office decision to change what division the Guppies played in and the Guppies all of sudden looked like the Guppies your parents grew up cheering for, at least during the regular season.

The Guppies posted a 9-1-0 regular season record and were essentially 20 minutes away from having a perfect regular season.  Instead of resting the starters in the 2nd half of the last regular season game, the entire team took the 1st half off...bye-bye perfect regular season and bye-bye momentum carrying over to the play-offs.

The Guppies played tentative in the post-season and the results reflect that. They barely made it out of the semi-finals and were outplayed completely in the finals, where they lost 7 - 2.  That's not a typo, it was really 7 - 2 and could have been worse.

What Guppies team will show up this year? The team that showed flashes of brilliance & dominance during the regular season or the team that struggled mightily in the play-offs.

One of Captain Brian Kelly's youth coaches caught up to Brian during a recent work-out & exclaimed, "wow Brian, you don't look like you've lost a step since I coached you...you look like you've lost 3 or 4 steps."

Are the Guppies back and ready to do what it takes to win a championship or are they happy just winning a "regular season" championship.  Assistant Captain Marc Crayton responded to the "regular season" championship in this manner, "they don't give out t-shirts & rings for winning the regular season & that's not why we play this game, we play to win the only championship that counts and that's the one at the end of the play-offs."

Did the off-season training regiments include training or just talk about training? Assistant Captain Rob Murphy got so in to his training regiment that he know regularly competes in road races & dominates them, said Murphy, "I haven't felt this good in ages, sound body and sound mind make a world of difference."

Do all the players want a championship as bad as Guppies nation does? Do the Guppies have what it takes? Will the championship drought end?

Stay tuned for answers to all these pressing questions as the Guppies open up their 2011 Spring Campaign this Wednesday night @ the ZRink @ 8pm.  SRO tickets still available.

Swim Guppies Swim

• Guppies Home
• Spring 2010

• Summer 2010
• Roster

• 2010 Record: 10-10-0
• Division: The Spring 2010 Guppies struggled with a 1-9-0 record. After a hard look in the mirror the Guppies decided to move from B-League to D-

League for the Summer session. In the Summer the move paid off with the Guppies inproving to 9-1-0.
• Playoffs:Summer 2010 saw the Playoffs return to Killingworth. The Guppies beat the Squirrel Kickers in the Semi-Finals but were crushed in Finals by Hurleys 7-2.

Goalie: Greg Marshall
Marshall posted a his first Win in Guppies blue during the Summer 2010 season (2-0-0). It should be the first of many for the young netminder that has proven himself the goalie of the future, if not, the goalie of now.

Defenseman: Dan Pequita

2011 will bring Danny back into the fold. The Guppies missed Pequita's solid defensive play in 2010. Not to mention, his offensive production. With Pequita back in K-Town look for fewer goals in the Guppies net and more in the opponents.

Forward: Marc Crayton

Crayton spent most of the off season working out with Gary Roberts. Despite his age Crayton skates like a guy in his early 20's. He should help the Guppies defensive efforts as he's the only forward that's heard of the term "back checking"

This is the longest Championship drought in Guppies history (Summer 2007). However, there is hope that things might be changing in Killingworth. The return of Tim Poulin, Pequita, and newcomer Mike Lagana should help the Guppies. However, the key losses of Jon Stevenson and Brian Mulcahy will hurt.

I'm hoping the Summer of 2010 wasn't a fluke, well except for the Championship game. I'm expecting for the Fish to be a top team in the D-League during both the Spring and Summer. It always takes the Guppies time to warmup. So, I'm thinking they lose a Championship game in the Spring and it's parade time in the Summer.    -JB