Tulsa rushes to victory over Rapid City 4-2

Veteran Marty Standish scores 500th point as a playoff berth gets closer.

TULSA, OK-- It was a magic night for Tulsa Oilers veteran Marty Standish.

The scrappy forward from Kelvington Saskatchewan eclipsed the 500 point mark as a member of the Central Hockey League on Tuesday night, scoring at 12:47 of the third period to put Tulsa two goals ahead of last year’s CHL champions, the Rapid City Rush. in front of 3,425 in the BOK Center.

Standish, who made a name for himself playing for the now-defunct Oklahoma City Blazers from 2002-2008, scooped the puck up just about the right-wing circle, skated in on Rush goalie Tim Boron and slipped it past him. Credit Tom Fritsche with the lone assist on the goal.

Marty Standish joined the Oilers in 2009 and has played for the Oilers for the last two seasons. He also played for the Quad City Mallards and the Bloomington Prairie Thunder before the joined the CHL this season.

After a tightly played and scoreless first period Michel Beausoleil put the Oilers up 1-0 at 15:33 off assists from Jack Combs and Derek Eastman. Newcomer Luke Luczyk gave Tulsa a 2-0 lead with a goal at 4:48 of the 3rd to open the scoring in the third period., off assists from RJ Linder and Anthony Battaglia.

Ryan Menai put Rapid City on the board for the first time in the game at the 9:06 and Derek LeBlanc would bring the Rush to within a goal at 17:28. Rush coach Joe Ferras would call Tim Boron to the bench with just under a minute and a half left and after a flurry of shots in the Oilers zone forward John Mori took possession of the puck along the right wing boards skated past the Rush blue line and slammed it into the empty cage.

With the win tonight the Oilers rose to 30-22-2 and inched closer to clinching their first playoff berth since 2005. In other action on Tuesday the Texas Brahmas fell to the Odessa Jackalopes 7-3 tonight and in doing so the Oilers rose to within a point of overtaking the second place Brahmas. The Allen American have already clinched a playoff and the championship of the CHL’s Berry Conference.

The Oilers are in action again against the Dayton Gems, a former IHL team on Thursday night, and it will be the first ever meeting between the two teams. Bruce Ramsay’s squad will then head to Odessa for a pair of games against the Jackalopes this weekend.