TULSA, Okla. – On Saturday, 12 of the Tulsa Oilers’ finest fans headed south to watch the Oilers take on the Allen Americans.
There was a slight delay when a nice policeman decided to escort us to the side of the road to investigate the Kansas-tagged white van carrying people from Oklahoma, claiming to be on their way to Texas, going five miles over the speed limit. Otherwise, the drive was uneventful.
We arrived at the Allen Event Center and upon entering the arena, we were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome we received from several of the Americans fans. We were wearing our Oilers’ gear and yet they thanked us for coming and said they were glad we made the drive down. Even upon leaving after the game they wished us a safe drive home.
The entire experience at Allen was very different than that of Wichita. Wichita ended with a nice little police escort out of the building. Speaking of police, why are the police always involved in some fashion on our road trips?
Anyway, we found our seats and got ready for the puck to drop!
As the Oilers found the ice for the pre-game warm up, several of the guys skated in front of us in order to acknowledge our presence. Tyler Fleck, Gio Flamininio and Jason Weeks each tapped their sticks against the wall in front of us to get our attention. Marty Standish (AKA Mini-Me, according to the Americans’ celebrity look-alike images) gave an awesome smile and Gerome Guidice nodded in our direction as well. It was really awesome that they let us know that they knew we were there. My apologies if I missed anyone.
Allen%27s Colton Yellow Horn battles Tulsa%27s Michel Beausoleil in front of the Oilers%27 net.
We waited…and waited…and waited…what the heck is going on here? What happened to our talent-stacked team that fights for the puck, backs each other up and owns the ice?
The guys on the ice that night were two seconds behind the play, chasing the Allen offense to our net, slow to get back on defense and doing a terrible job of predicting the Americans’ moves.
Our hope went from, “we can catch up, we can catch up”, in the first and second periods to “please just don’t get shut out” in the third. Thanks to Jason Weeks’ goal, we didn’t.
I wonder what it is that causes such inconsistency in team performance. Some games, these guys are untouchable. Other times, it’s like they don’t even show up…ghost players on the ice.
Whatever it is, I hope they get it out of their system and find their way back to the spirit of the game; because the fans do. We still show up and we still watch the game and we still wait for those amazing moments in every game that makes us so proud to be fans of the Tulsa Oilers. We miss you as a team. Please come back!
Contact the writer at Julie.harmon@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at chip.crail@prohockeynews.com
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