Official Press Release

Pequita's OT Goal Captures Killingworth Top Seed

Glastonbury, CT Sept. 9, 2004. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Summer 2004 season.

Sept. 9, 2004 - Thursday night when the Guppies and Mad Dogs faced off in a late night affair the battle for first place was on the line. If the Dogs won or tied they would have the # 1 seed, the Guppies needed the win. Things started well for the fish when Tim Poulin (1-1-2) scored from behind the goal line when his shot hit the back of Jeff Krauss and into the Dogs net. However, the Guppies lead was short lived as the Dogs scored the next three goals (Hathorn, Scussel, Gawel) to take control of the game. Despite letting up three consecutive goals, Joe Linskey was great in the Guppies net. "Things could have been a lot worse if Linskey was off his game" stated the Guppies Forward Dave Armenia on Linskey's First Half play. At the Half the Guppies were down 3-1 and were in desperate search for some offense.

Marc Crayton (1-0-1) found some Offense when he banged in a rebound, not on his first or second try but his fourth. If this was Softball he would have been out after three swings, luckily for the Gupps this is Hockey. However, I don't see any Softball positions coming Crayton's way. Four Minutes later the Guppies would tie the score as Rob Murphy (0-2-2) hit Brian Kelly (2-1-3) on a Pizza play that gave Kelly a break away. The Guppies would take back the lead only moments later when Kelly hit Craig Zito (2-1-3) with a pass in the neutral zone, Zito buried it for his first of the night. The Mad Dogs would tie the score when John Krauss scored with just over Five minutes remaining.  At the 3:22 mark Kelly scored again to give the Guppies the lead. C. Zito scored :32 seconds later to make it a two goal lead. However the Guppies layed back hoping to hold onto their lead. It didn't work as the Dogs scored twice in the final two minutes to tie the game at six and force Overtime.

In overtime the Guppies carried the play with several good scoring opportunities by Poulin and Dan Pequita (1-0-1). However with time ticking down and the playoff seeding on the line Pequita was able to beat the Dog's Jeff Krauss for the victory.  Now the Guppies wait for the winner of the Semi-Final game between the Mad Dogs and the Dead Goalies on Wednesday night. The winner will play the Guppies next Thursday night at 8pm for the Championship. The Guppies Playoff tickets go on sale on Friday morning at 10:00am.

SIDE NOTES:

- Brian Mulcahy and Mike Halle were healthy scratches on Thursday night!

- Brian Mulcahy  won the Summer 2004 "Brian Blair Award" given to the player that pays for the season but doesn't play. Brian didn't attend the award ceremony! (of Course!)

- The Guppies have never failed to make the playoffs in their history and have made the playoffs as the top seed 7 out of the 11 playoff appearences. They have won 5 championships in the their first ten seasons and hope to make this 6 out of 11.

BOX SCORES:

First Half:

14:50 - Goal - Poulin (unassisted)

Second Half:

18:49 - Goal - Crayton (Poulin)

14:36 - Goal - Kelly (Murphy, C. Zito)

12:54 - Goal - C. Zito (Kelly)

  3:22 - Goal - Kelly (Murphy)

  2:15 - Goal - C. Zito (unassisted)

  1:03 - Penalty - C. Zito (Holding)

Overtime:

1:42 - Goal - Pequita (unassisted)

Shots on Goal:

Guppies: 27

Mad Dogs: 22

Referees:

Dominic

Brandon