Oilers steamroll into second place.

Oilers sweep weekend series with Missouri; Costello’s streak reaches 14 games.

INDEPENDENCE, MO.-- On November 26, after a 6-2 loss in Bossier-Shreveport, the Tulsa Oilers sat 5-12-1 with 11 points, 19 behind the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs who were an impressive 15-4-0.

Since that time, the Oilers have been one of the hottest teams in the CHL going 18-7-0 and with their two-game sweep of Missouri this past weekend they have finally leapfrogged the Mudbugs in the standings and now sit alone in second place in the Berry Conference with 47 points.

The 5-4 Oilers win over the Mavericks continues a trend of one goal decisions between the two clubs, which have had many of the games in the 2010-11 campaign end with one goal differentials. Prior to Friday night’s 4-3 win in the BOK Center, the teams had three games in their series decided by one goal.

Braden Walls, Evan Kotsopoulos, Tom Dignard, and Gary Steffes scored for Tulsa in the game on Saturday night, and Chad Costello continued a streak of scoring a point in each of the last 14 games when he tucked the puck in behind Mavericks goalie Robby Nolan during a penalty shot in the second period. Costello is coming off a month of January that saw him amass 10 goals, 16 assists and a +10 plus/minus rating. He also notched three game winning goals in his team’s 11 games. He is sitting second in the league with 66 points (26-40=66), two behind Odessa’s Sebastien Thinel’s 68 points (18-50=68).

The Mavericks saw a hat trick scored by Nick Sirota, completed with an extra attacker situation late in the third period with goaltender Robby Nolan pulled to the Missouri bench. Derek Pallardy had the Mavericks only other goal.

It was a rough game with several altercations taking place. In all, 50 minutes of penalties were called in the game with the team splitting them equally at 25 minutes apiece.

Tulsa will travel to Allen on Wednesday night to taker on the first place Americans, who hold a commanding lead in the Berry Conference with 61 points. The Oilers then will travel to Mississippi for a pair of games Friday and Saturday with each game starting at 7:05 p.m.

The next home game for Tulsa will be on February 11th when they face the Texas Brahmas. Tickets for all Oilers games are available at the BOK Box Office, Tickets.com, Tulsa area Reasor’s stores, and by calling 1-866-7BOK-CTR (866-725-5287). More information is available by calling the Oilers office at 918-632-PUCK (7825).