Oilers drop season finale to Missouri in OT
BY JOHN RITTENOURE World Correspondent
Monday, March 26, 2012
3/26/12 at 5:25 AM
The Tulsa Oilers did not have their heart in Sunday's Central Hockey League regular season finale at the BOK Center.
Who could blame them? On Saturday, the Oilers lost a hard-fought 5-4 game at Missouri that ended their hopes to make the playoffs. The game became so intense that Oilers defenseman Sean Erickson and head coach Bruce Ramsay were tossed from the game.
With nothing left to play for, the Mavericks and Oilers met one last time with only the satisfaction of winning on the line. But even that hope faded for the Oilers when Ryan Jardine scored a power-play goal just 32 seconds into overtime to give the Mavericks a 6-5 victory.
"It is extremely disappointing that we did not make the playoffs, but towards the end of the year after our little slump I thought we played very well," Ramsay said. "Last night was a real disappointing loss. We were right there by one goal and had 20 shots in the third period and playing with four defensemen the whole game."
Dylan Clarke scored two second-period goals on Sunday to tie the game at 3-3. In the third, Ryan Cramer scored at 11:55 to force overtime at 5-all. But the overtime goal gave the Mavericks their eighth win over Tulsa in nine games. The Oilers ended the season at 29-29-8.
Looking back over the season, Ramsay felt there were a lot of positives.
"With our active 18-man roster, we have nine rookies, the most of any team in the league," Ramsay said. "These kids came to play every night. I thought overall we had a really tough schedule in comparison to other teams. Fifty of our 66 games this year were against playoff teams. When we did play the teams that were below us, we did a great job. We only played Laredo, Arizona and Rio Grande Valley 11 times and went 9-1-1. We had a better record against Allen and Texas. When you look at Wichita, of their 16 losses, four of them were to us.
"There are a lot of positives. We have a lot of great young kids and they stepped up the plate. Jeff Terminesi on defense had a great year, Mike Ullrich, Dylan Clarke, David Solway, Ryan Cramer and Gary Steffes were our top-line forwards. I don't think we had a game all year that we really got outplayed or outworked."
Injuries also played a part in the Oilers' mid-season slump.
"We had some tough injuries," Ramsay said. "One of the big ones is losing key defensemen at key times. We lost Sean Erickson for an extended period and when he came back, he was not at 100 percent.
"We gave it everything we had. I have no regrets."
MISSOURI 6, TULSA 5 (OT)
| Missouri |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
- |
6 |
| Tulsa |
1 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
- |
5 |
First Period: 1, Tulsa, Beausoleil 20 (Solway) 2:03. 2, Missouri, Smith (Schafer, Coccimiglio) 7:53. Penalties: None.
Second Period: 3, Missouri, Good 1 (Bohunicky, Pszenycny) 2:29. 4, Missouri, Jardine 10 (McGrane, Courtney) 3:20. 5, Tulsa, Clarke 28 (Steffes, Ullrich) 7:04. 6, Tulsa, Clarke 29 (Ullrich, Lucyk) 18:32. Penalties: Missouri, Bohunicky (roughing double minor) 13:11. Tulsa, Solway (roughing double minor) 13:11. Tulsa, Cramer (elbowing) 15:31. Missouri, Liewellyn (charging) 19:57.
Third Period: 7, Missouri, Simoes 4 (Dickson) 3:29. 8, Tulsa, Fisher 1 (Standish, Lucyk) 5:29. 9, Missouri, Mahovsky 18 (Thinel, Dickson) 9:58. 10, Tulsa, Cramer 17 (Standish, Terminesi) 11:55. Penalties: Missouri, Simoes (interference) 18:05. Tulsa, Steffes (holding) 18:43. Tulsa, Solway (slashing) 19:10.
Overtime: 11, Missouri, Jardine 11 (Thinel, Pszenyczny) :32. Penalties: None.
Power Plays: Missouri, 1-3. Tulsa, 0-2.
Shots: Missouri, 6-7-13-1 - 27. Tulsa, 7-14-11-0 - 32.
Saves: Missouri, O'Brien 6-12-9-0 - 27. Tulsa, Christie 5-5-11-0 - 21.
Referee: Boone Bruggman. A: 4,695.
Original Print Headline: Oilers fall in OT in season finale
