TULSA, OK—The Tulsa
Oilers returned home to the amazing BOK Center Friday night coming off of a
come-from- behind 6-5 victory over the Mississippi Riverkings in DeSoto a week
ago to face the Rapid City Rush. It has
been a remarkable recovery this season for Tulsa, with several players having a
positive impact on the Oilers winning ways. The story of the young season for Tulsa continues to be the superb play
of centerman Rob Hisey, who recently claimed the points lead in the league with
9 goals and 10 assists for 19 points.
Tulsa and Rapid City last battled on October 27th
where the Oilers bested the Rush by a score of 5-4. Rapid City scored all of their goals in the 2nd
period of that game, and that’s the most a team has scored against the Oilers
in any game this season. The two teams are
deadlocked at 10 points in the standings, tied for 3rd in the CHL
Northern Conference. With solid
performances both tonight and tomorrow night against the Riverkings, the Oilers
might make a significant move up to take ove the top spot in the conference.
The Oilers opened the scoring at 10:54 of the first period with
a goal by T. J. Caig, who tipped the disc past Rush goalie Miguel Beaudry off a
pass by Rick Kozak on a 2-on-1 odd man rush. Credit another assist to Aaron
Davis on that play. The two teams
battled hard for the remainder of the period, but Tulsa prevailed to win the
period 1-0.
The Rush evened the score at 9:25 of the 2nd on a
goal by Colt King, assisted by Luke Erickson. The goal coming in a flurry of shots in front of Oilers goalie Kevin
Armstrong who stopped the initial shot, and King slammed the puck past him off
the rebound. The Rush would then take the lead at 18:24 with
Troy Riddle of the Oilers in the penalty box when Brendan Cook found the net
and the period ended tied 2-2.
The Oilers then erupted for 3 goals in the 3rd
period after a weird situation where an apparent goal by Troy Riddle was
disallowed at the very beginning of the period. At 3:22 Riddle managed to put the puck past Beaudry with Rob Hiesy
assisting. T.J. Caig, the games number 1
star scored the second of his 2 goals on the night with Hisey also assisting, and
the final goal of the night was an empty net goal, scored by Troy Riddle with a
Rush player riding on his back from the blue line.
The
win gives the Oilers 12 points and they maintain their 3rd place
position in the standings. They will
take on the Mississippi Riverkings tomorrow night at the amazing BOK Center,
and tickets are available at the BOK Center box office and all Reasors
locations.
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Photos: Kevin Pyle