TULSA, OK– It was far from a shot heard round the world, but the ears of Mississippi Riverkings goalie Tim Boron’s ears are doubtlessly still ringing from the rocket of a slap shot fired at him by Oilers forward Dan Riedel to win the game Friday night.
With the game deadlocked at 2-2 and the Riverkings captain Derek Landemesser in the penalty box for an abbreviated hooking infraction Riedel took a cross-ice pass from Oilers captain Tyler Butler and uncorked a shot that sailed into the net over Boron’s right shoulder and snatched an overtime victory from a hard fighting Mississippi Riverkings team. Second assist on the play went to TJ Caig.
The Oilers bench cleared in a manner reminiscent of the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team after the goal and the 5,365 fans in attendance roared their approval.
The win tonight marks the fourth time Tulsa has beaten the Riverkings, and the win closes the gap between the two teams in the points race. Tulsa sits in 5th place with 49 points and Mississippi is in 4th at an even 50. The Oilers came into the amazing BOK Center after suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Allen Americans last night on the road, while the Riverkings last game saw them fall to Bossier-Shreveport 6-1 on Tuesday night.
Mississippi would find the back of the net first when Elias Godoy sent the puck past Oilers net minder Trevor Cann at 4:12 of the first period, which was answered at 9:22 of the period when Sean Erickson slipped the puck by Boron with Troy Riddle and Jim Henkemeyer assisting.
TJ Caig would score a minute and a half into the 3rd period assisted by Aaron Davis and Dan Riedel, and the Riverkings Matt Summer would find pay dirt on a power play when he took a pass from Bobby Chaumont on a 3-on-1 rush and buried it behind Trevor Cann who was sliding across the crease to attempt the save.
The Oilers will host the Amarillo Gorillas Saturday night in the BOK Center on what is being billed as “Pink In The Rink part II” and it will feature the Oilers wearing special red jerseys in support of the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Awareness Foundation. The Riverkings travel to Independence to face the surging Missouri Mavericks who downed the Wichita Thunder 6-1 tonight.
Tickets for tomorrow night’s game and all of the remaining Oilers home games can be purchased at the BOK Center box office, tulsaoilers.com and all Reasors locations. If you can’t make the game and have access to a computer all of the Oilers games can be heard at edgetulsa.com with Steve McCall providing the exciting play-by-play action.
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Photos by: Kevin Pyle
SHOTS ON GOAL
Mississippi 33
Tulsa 26
POWERPLAYS
Mississippi 1 for 7 : Tulsa 1 for 3
SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
Mississippi – Elias Godoy (Bobby Chaumont, Matt Summers) 4:12
Tulsa – Sean Erickson (Troy Riddle, Jim Henkemeyer) 9:22
Period 2
(no scoring)
Period 3
Tulsa – TJ Caig (Aaron Davis, Dan Riedel) 1:36
Mississippi – Matt Summers (powerplay) (Bobby Chaumont, Elias Godoy) 11:37
Overtime
Tulsa – Dan Riedel (powerplay) (Tyler Butler, TJ Caig) 0:54
PENALTIES
Period 1
Mississippi – Dane Marshall – (Hooking), 2 min, 5:28
Tulsa – TJ Caig – (Slashing), 2 min, 7:02
Mississippi – Tyler Doherty – (Roughing), 2 min, 15:28
Tulsa – Thomas Harrison – (Roughing), 2 min, 15:28
Mississippi – Elias Godoy – (Tripping), 2 min, 15:53
Period 2
Tulsa – Adam Bartholomay – (Hooking), 2 min, 8:29
Tulsa – Tyler Fleck – (Slashing), 2 min, 15:46
Tulsa – Aaron Davis – (Hooking), 2 min, 15:46
Period 3
Tulsa – Marty Standish – (Interference), 2 min, 5:12
Tulsa – Jim Henkemeyer – (Tripping), 2 min, 10:58
Tulsa – Jake Riddle – (Tripping), 2 min, 14:27
Overtime
Mississippi – Derek Landmesser – (Cross Checking OT Minor), 1 min, 0:18
GAME LENGTH: 2:27
ATTENDANCE: 5,365
REFEREE: Ryan Hersey
LINES 1: Nathaniel Farkas
LINES 2: Zach Thornton
SCOREKEEPER: Tulsa Scorekeeper
CHL GAME NUMBER: 346
1ST STAR: Riedel, Dan (TUL)
2ND STAR: Caig, TJ (TUL)
3RD STAR: Godoy, Elias (MIS)