Bloomington dominates Tulsa
BY JOHN RITTENOURE World Correspondent
Sunday, December 09, 2012
12/09/12 at 6:53 AM
It was an ugly night for the Tulsa Oilers on Saturday at the BOK Center as they gave up a season-high 42 shots in an 8-3 loss to the Bloomington Blaze.
Tulsa also tied a season-high of eight goals against and for the third straight game gave up six or more goals.
The Oilers have only won two of their last 11 games.
"It was ugly and disgusting," Oilers coach Bruce Ramsay said. "It shows we are really missing something.
"I expected us to come out hard. In the past I thought we played these guys really well, and this was the exact opposite and I apologize to the fans. It is obvious we are not going to go very far with the players we have here.
"I see we need some major changes to be successful. The character and passion was not there."
Ramsay expects to make changes to his team lineup.
"We have been through this situation before and we have always bounced back," he said. "We will fight through it."
A disastrous first period set the tone for a game that went from bad to worse for the Oilers.
Just 2:49 into the game, the Blaze had five shots on the board to zero for the Oilers. Travis Granbois scored to give the Blaze a 1-0 lead. From there, the action got a little confusing to the point the officials had to take time to talk it over.
A Blaze player fired a shot at Oilers goalie Mike Garman that pinged off the top bar of the goal, but no goal was called.
Blaze coach Brian Gratz complained to CHL referee Brent Coulombe. Gratz was still complaining when Ryan Menei skated down to the other end to score for Tulsa only nine seconds later. The 4,271 BOK Center attendees peppered the ice with Teddy Bears as part of the Teddy Bear toss promotion.
With play stopped to clean up the ice, the officials engaged in a discussion, then consulted with the goal judge.
The Blaze goal was allowed and credited to Kyle Bochek, and because of that ruling, Menei's goal was disallowed, making the score 2-0 for the Blaze.
Gary Steffes finally put the Oilers on the scoreboard at 7:24, but the Blaze scored two more goals to take a 4-1 first period lead.
The Blaze scored twice more in the second period and two more times in the third. Tulsa did pick up two more goals in the third, one by Gio Flamminio and a powerplay goal by Ben Gordon. But that is as close as they would come.
Game notes: Tulsa starts a five-game road trip on Sunday at Fort Worth. The Oilers do not return home until Dec. 26, when they will host Fort Worth at the BOK Center.
BLAZE 8, OILERS 3
| Bloomington |
4 |
2 |
2 |
- |
8 |
| Tulsa |
1 |
0 |
2 |
- |
3 |
First Period: 1, Bloomington, Granbois, 8 (Bochek) 2:49. 2, Bloomington, Bochek, 7 (Granbois) 5:03 (sh). 3, Tulsa, Steffes, 13 (Beauregard, Beausoleil) 7:24. 4, Bloomington, Dudas, 11 (Barczuk, Gilbert) 9:39. 5, Bloomington, Palmer, 2 (Gron, Booras) 18:23 (pp). Penalties: Bloomington, Booras (holding) 4:24. Tulsa, Steffes (hooking) 6:17. Bloomington, Makway (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct) 9:39. Tulsa, Beausoleil (unsportsmanlike conduct) 9:39. Tulsa, Register (hooking) 17:02.
Second Period: 6, Bloomington, Larke, 8 (Booras) 12:34. 7, Bloomington, Walker 2 (Barczuk) 15:01. Penalties: None.
Third Period: 8, Bloomington, Booras, 8 (Palmer) 5:39. 9, Tulsa, Flamminio, 2 (Gordon, Cramer) 14:19. Tulsa, Gordon, 13 (Menei, Ullrich) 16:08 (pp). 11, Bloomington, Dawson, 1 (Granbois) (empty net) 19:12 (sh). Penalties: Tulsa, Beauregard (hooking) 1:18. Bloomington, Palmer (slashing) 15:15. Bloomington, Larke (abuse of officials) 16:52. Bloomington, Makway (cross checking) 17:44.
Power Plays: Bloomington, 1-3. Tulsa, 1-5.
Shots: Bloomington, 18-13-11--42. Tulsa, 4-9-9--22.
Saves: Bloomington, Pelletier 3-9-7--19. Tulsa, Garman 14-7-0--21, Keserich 0-4-9--13.
Referee: Brent Coulombe. A; 4,271.
