Summer 2008: A Season for change in Tulsa

TULSA, OK – When last we left the Tulsa Oilers, they closed out 40+ years of hockey action in the Tulsa Convention Center with plans to resume across the street in the brand new, state-of-the-art Bank of Oklahoma Center.   Some four months later, and one month removed from the first day of camp, the winds of change have blown through the team like a vigorous Oklahoma thunderstorm, leaving once again an almost brand new team in it’s wake.
 
Changes began with the hiring of former Oilers player Taylor Hall as the team’s new general manager soon after the end of the season.    Hall was a member of the 92-93 championship team and returns to the Oilers after a trip through various coaching and front office duties in other leagues.   Hall’s hiring sparked a change in the team’s logo soon afterward and a seemingly new interest in the fan base who had become disillusioned by the team’s lackluster performance in recent years.
 
The 2008-2009 season will be the first full season in which Dan Hodge will be behind the bench as head coach.   He assumed command after the resignation of former coach Butch Kaebel in December 2007.   Hodge wasted no time in signing key players into position such as goalies Kevin St. Pierre and Guy St. Vincent, as well as forward Jeff Christian and Lucas Burnett.   One of Hodge’s priorities was to bolster a porous defensive corps, and he did that by signing Kevin Hansen and Ben Chiasson.
 
The Oilers lost one of their key playmakers, David Alexandre Beauregard, who departed the team to play in Great Britain, but picked up Jason Lawmaster from the Mississippi Riverkings.   The camp roster has a lot of fresh ammunition and at the outset, the team looks to possibly reverse the dismal trend of past seasons.
 
This season will mark the Oilers 17^th in the reborn Central Hockey League.   In total, the team will really celebrate some 80 years carrying the name as the first took the ice in January 1928 with the team name coined by none other than oilman W.G. Skelly.   With a pedigree of players spanning those years it seems only natural to host an alumni game, and the Oilers did exactly that in late August at their practice facility.
 
Former players like Doug Lawrence and Luc Beausoliel joined older players like Larry McIntyre and Garry Unger to play a spirited, non-contact pickup game to the delight of old and new fans alike.   Prior to the game, Mike Berger and Luc Beausoliel joined the oldest living Tulsa Oilers player, 101-year old Millard “Sonny” Wakeford his rest home to celebrate the fact that they are the only three Oilers players to have their numbers, (44, 17, and 12), retired.
 
Finally, the Tulsa Oilers helped the entire city of Tulsa celebrate the opening of their new home, the BOK Center, on August 30.   The team welcomed fans into their new locker room, and state of the art workout facility inside the building, and invited the season ticket holders to “test drive” their seats inside the building.
 
A lot has changed over the summer of 2008.   The Oilers hope to take the ice in ocotber a reborn, revamped and reincarnated version of themselves.   Fans seem to be excited too, as it has been reported that season ticket sales are up some 40% over last year.   Hopefully the new attitude will result in the Oilers ascending to the top of the CHL Mountain this year and hoist the coveted President’s Cup.
 
Contact the author at rich.lohman@prohockeynews.com .