Bloomington buries Oilers
BY JOHN RITTENOURE World Correspondent
Saturday, November 17, 2012
11/17/12 at 6:10 AM
Opportunity knocked for the Bloomington Blaze on Friday, and it was quick to take advantage.
The result was a 5-2 Central Hockey League victory over the Tulsa Oilers before 4,155 at the BOK Center.
Down 4-0 and on the verge of being shutout in the third period, Mike Ullrich and Gary Steffes finally found a pair of opportunities for the Oilers and scored goals to pull Tulsa within 2 with about four minutes remaining. But it was too little, too late, and the Blaze added an empty net goal at 18:57 to put the game out of reach.
"Overall I did not think we played that bad, but it still was not good enough," said Oilers coach Bruce Ramsay.
"They (Bloomington) are an opportunistic team. I think overall we out-played them, but when it comes down to it, they scored more goals then us. We talked about needing to be stronger in our defensive zone, and I don't think we were."
The Oilers came out strong on offense to start the game raining shot after shot on Blaze goaltender Dan Dunn. But a unexpected goal by Bloomington turned the tide of the game.
The Blaze had taken only four shots on goal, compared to seven for the Oilers, when it scored its first goal.
Travis Granbois flipped the puck over the shoulder of Oilers goalie Ian Keserich to take a 1-0 lead at 10:51 after failing on a backhand shot. That goal sparked the Blaze to outshoot the Oilers 9-5 and extend the lead when Sebastien Trudeau earned his sixth goal of the year.
"We had a great start to the game," Ramsay said. "Then they scored a lucky goal and carried some momentum. We had plenty of opportunities throughout the game and did not capitalize on them.
"We started the second period out-shooting them nine or 10 to one, then took a four minute penalty and they capitalized on that."
That penalty came when Michel Beausoleil picked up a high sticking double minor. That allowed plenty of time for the CHL's top penalty-killing team, and Tyler Gron fired a powerplay blast past Keserich at 10:35 to put Bloomington up 3-0.
Game notes: Veteran Tyler Fleck returned to action on Friday after missing seven games due to a minor injury.
Tulsa travels to Texas on Saturday to play the Allen Americans. The next home game is Tuesday when the Oilers host Fort Worth at the BOK Center.
BLOOMINGTON 5, TULSA 2
| Bloomington |
2 |
1 |
2 |
- |
5 |
| Tulsa |
0 |
0 |
2 |
- |
2 |
First Period: 1, Bloomington, Granbois, 4 (unassisted) 10:51. 2, Bloomington, Trudeau, 6 (unassisted) 17:48. Penalties: None.
Second Period: 3, Bloomington, Gron, 7 (Booras, Gilbert) 10:35 (pp). Penalties: Tulsa, Beausoleil (high sticking double minor) 19:38. Bloomington, Dawson (fighting major) 17:09. Tulsa, Ullrich (boarding major, fighting major) 17:09. Bloomington, Larke (tripping) 17:28.
Third Period: 4, Bloomington, Lindberg, 5 (Makway, Granbois) 4:00. 5, Tulsa, Cramer, 3 (Gingera, Trask) 11:27. 6, Tulsa, Steffes, 7 (Beauregard, Beausoleil) 16:08. 7, Bloomington, Granbois, 5 (Trudeau) (empty net) 18:57. Penalties: Bloomington, Trebish (slashing) 13:58.
Power Plays: Bloomington, 1-4. Tulsa, 0-1.
Shots: Bloomington, 13-9-13 - 35. Tulsa, 12-12-13 - 37.
Saves: Bloomington, Dunn 12-12-11--35. Tulsa, Keserich 11-8-11--30.
Referee: Peter Tarnaris. A: 4,155.
Associated Images:
Tulsa Oilers forward Jake Trask attacks the blue line against the Bloomington Blaze at the BOK Center on Friday. KEVIN PYLE/For The Tulsa World
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