Oilers shoot down the swarm.

TULSA, OK—The Tulsa Oilers welcomed the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees to the amazing BOK Center Sunday afternoon, hoping to add another win after beating the Wichita Thunder last night on the road.

  The Oilers reached a milestone last night in their 2-1 defeat of the Wichita Thunder in the Intrust Bank Arena.  The victory was their 18th win on the season and it equaled the total wins the Oilers had last season.   It took them until March 2009 for them to accomplish that.  The game was a solid win for Tulsa, one that fans hoped would nudge them toward their first win of 2010 at home.

  A scoreless first period saw only one penalty called on the Bees by referee Steve Cruikshank but not much else.  The Oilers had several scoring chances but showed some fatigue after playing 2 games in two nights.  The Oilers did lead the shot total at period’s end, peppering Rio Grande goalie Andy Franck for 14 shots.  The Bees challenged Trevor Cann for only 6.

  The scoring drought was ended when Sean Erickson put the puck past Franck at 12:12 of the period on assists from Troy Riddle and Travis Banga.  It was Erickson’s 3rd goal of the season.  The period didn’t feature very much more, except for an identical shot total.  One thing that remained constant was the Oilers slipping power play.  So far in the two games against Wichita the Tulsa squad has failed to convert on the extra man opportunities.

  A 122+ minute scoreless streak for Rio Grande was snapped by Nathan Ansell at 1:31 of the 3rd period on assists from Grant Goettner-Zoellner and Jesse Bennefield on a empty net extra man situation.  Regulation time would end with that and the overtime period would commence.  After five minutes of 4 on 4 action, overtime gave way to a shootout.  Dan Riedel, TJ Caig and Travis Banga all scored, and Trevor Cann stoned all three Rio Grande Valley shooters to wrap up the shootout win and take their first win at home in 2010.

  Tulsa now stands at 19-16-1 with 39 points, in sole possession of 5th place in the CHL North.  
The Oilers play at home again on Tuesday night facing the Missouri Mavericks at 7:05pm.  Tickets fot that game and all remaining Oilers home games can be purchased at the BOK Center box office, tulsaoilers.com and all Reasors locations.

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 Photos by: Kevin Pyle

ATTENDANCE: 4,215
REFEREE: Steve Cruickshank
LINES 1: Jordan Crowell
LINES 2: Cory Piche

1ST STAR: Cann, Trevor (TUL)
2ND STAR: Riedel, Dan (TUL)
3RD STAR: Erickson, Sean (TUL)