Official Press Release

Glastonbury, CT Sept. 16, 2004. ZRink - Killingworth Guppies Summer 2004 season.

Sept.16, 2004 - Thursday night the Guppies faced off against the Mad Dogs in search for another ZRink Championship and another t-shirt for their ever growing wardrobe. The Dogs were the only team this season to hand the Guppies a lose, two actually! However, the Guppies had won their last two meetings and Thursday night was the rubber match. The Guppies would strike first when Dan Pequita (1-0-1) deflected a shot from Mike Halle (0-1-1) into the Dogs net. The Mad Dogs would tie the score Five minutes later when P. Crichton beat Joe Linskey on a rebound. The tie didn't last long as seconds later Craig Zito (2-1-3) scored off a pass from Robert Murphy (1-2-3). At 4:01 mark Dave Armenia found himself in the middle of a misunderstanding. Dave would receive two minutes for Roughing but his dance partner went to the box for four minutes. The result was a Guppies Power Play which turned into a Guppies Goal as Murphy scored after being set up by Jason Zito (0-1-1).  At the half the Gupps were up 3-1 and looked to be in control.

In the second half the Guppies continued to control the play. The Guppies looked to nail the final nails in the coffin as Brian Kelly (1-0-1) buried a shot from the high slot. Things got a lot worse for the Dogs when Craig Zito scored his second of the night and gave the Guppies a comfortable 5-1 lead. Maybe too comfortable!! The Dogs called a time-out after Zito's goal and then came out to score twice in a .48 second span. The Guppies tried to regroup and Joe Linskey stood on his head as the Guppies looked to right the ship. A big help in the Guppies defensive play was the fact that the forwards were backchecking Thursday night. "I hope some one had a camera tonight because I don't backcheck often" stated Tim Poulin in a post game interview. Marc Crayton added "Our line would have had a lot more offense tonight but we were concentrating on our defensive assignments".  In the end the Guppies received their new T-shirts and Championship Medals and continued the winning tradition of Guppies Hockey. View Team Awards Below:

SIDE NOTES:

- John Carroll was a healthy scratch Thursday night when the league notified him he was unable to play because he hadn't skated in enough regular season games. John told reporters that he plan on playing in 2005 with the Guppies.

- Marc Crayton finished the season with a better GAA (goals against average) than Joe Linskey in the Summer 2004 season. Adding more fuel to the fire, Who is the true #1 in the Guppies net?

- The Guppies have made the Finals in each of it's 6 seasons since moving to the Z-Rink back in 2002. They have won four championships in that time. The Guppies have made the playoffs in every season of the existence.

- The Championship Parade will be in two parts. First the Tradition Parade route in Killingworth from Sheldon Field up Route 80 then up Route 81 to Town Hall. The parade is scheduled for Sunday morning at 10am. Also, there will be a team parade at the Zrink Parking lot on Sunday at 3pm.

-The Blue Mile was rocking last as the stretch between the Killingworth Circle and June's Pub was closed for the post game partiers. The Killingworth Resident State Trooper reported no major incidents.

BOX SCORES:

First Half:

17:28 - Goal - Pequita (Halle, Poulin)

11:16 - Goal - C. Zito (Murphy)

  9:25 - Penalty - C. Zito (Holding)

  4:01 - Penalty - Armenia (Roughing)

  2:02 - Goal - Murphy (J. Zito)

Second Half:

17:26 - Goal - Kelly (C. Zito, Murphy)

15:06 - Goal - C. Zito (J. Zito)

13:09 - Penalty - Halle (Highsticking)

  7:49 - Penalty - J. Zito (Unsportsman)

  4:34 - Penalty - J. Zito (Roughing)

  1:12 - Penalty - C. Zito (Unsportsman)

Shots on Goal:

Guppies: 22

Mad Dogs:16

Guppies Summer 2004 Trophy Case:

Calder Trophy(Rookie of the Year): Craig Zito

Bousquet Trophy (Most Valuable Player): Robert Murphy

Lady Byng Trophy: (Gentlemanly Play): Robert Murphy, John Carroll, Dan Pequita

Tim Gessner Trophy (Top Defenseman): Brian Kelly

Maurice Richard Trophy (Top Goal Scorer): Tim Poulin

Art Ross Trophy (Top Point Scorer): Robert Murphy

Frank J. Selke Trophy (Top Defensive Forward): Jason Zito and Dave Armenia

Conn Smythe Trophy (Most Valuable Player in the Playoffs): Joe Linskey

Vezina Trophy (Top Goalie): Marc Crayton

Brian Blair Award (Player that Pays but Doesn't Play): Brian Mulcahy