The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Tulsa, Oklahoma , and play in the ECHL . The Oilers played their home games at the Tulsa Convention Center until 2008 when they moved into the new BOK Center . For many years, the Tulsa Oilers name was shared with Tulsa's former minor-league baseball team that pre-dated the Tulsa Drillers . To reduce confusion in local news reporting, the hockey team was often called the "Ice Oilers".
23-687: Formerly a member of the Central Hockey League , the Oilers are one of only two teams which played every one of the CHL's 22 seasons (the other being the Wichita Thunder ). The Oilers established a winning tradition, making the playoffs in nine of their first 13 seasons. However, their performance in recent years has been less successful making the playoffs four times since 2005. Original owner Jeff Lund played an integral part in assembling
46-802: The 2012–13 season . Subsequently, in 2010, the International Hockey League folded and all five remaining IHL teams joined the CHL; the last of these, the Quad City Mallards , folded in 2018 in the ECHL. Brad Treliving , who co-founded the WPHL in 1996, became CHL commissioner following the merger, before leaving to join the Phoenix Coyotes . Duane Lewis was named the permanent commissioner in June 2008. In October 2013,
69-679: The Allen Americans , Brampton Beast , Quad City Mallards , Missouri Mavericks , Rapid City Rush and Wichita Thunder , were all approved the expansion membership application into the ECHL for the 2014–15 season . On July 31, 2015, the Oilers announced a one-year affiliation with the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and the AHL's Manitoba Moose . After the conclusion of the agreement with the Jets/Moose,
92-701: The Anaheim Ducks starting with the 2020–21 season . In 2021, the Steven brothers sold the team to Andy Scurto and his company NL Sports, LLC, which also had recently purchased the Buffalo Beauts and Minnesota Whitecaps in the Premier Hockey Federation . Central Hockey League The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a North American mid-level minor professional ice hockey league which operated from 1992 until 2014. It
115-751: The Memphis RiverKings , the Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire . After Levins died, the league's championship trophy (awarded to the winner of the CHL playoffs) was renamed the Levins Cup . After running the league for eight years, Miron retired in 2000 and sold the league. The Levins Cup was renamed the Ray Miron President's Cup . After experiments in expansion and an ongoing battle for players and markets with
138-561: The Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) throughout the late 1990s, the CHL merged with the WPHL in 2001, with 10 former WPHL teams joining the CHL for the 2001–02 season . However, several years of gradual contraction in the former WPHL markets claimed most of these teams in the ensuing years. The last active former WPHL team, the Fort Worth Brahmas , effectively ceased operations following
161-920: The 1947–48 season with the Tulsa Oilers after a stellar 11-year career in the NHL with the New York Rangers and Chicago Black Hawks and won the USHL Most Valuable Player Award. In 1964, a new Tulsa Oilers team joined the Central Professional Hockey League (later shortened to Central Hockey League) in its second season of operation. The Oilers won the Adams Cup as the CPHL/CHL champions in 1968 , 1976 , and 1984 .The Oilers played in
184-551: The 1992–93 team, led by veteran minor league coach and former NHL ironman Garry Unger . The team, anchored by high-scoring forward Sylvain Naud and veteran goalie Tony Martino, finished the regular season in second place, right behind intrastate rival Oklahoma City Blazers . However, in the revived league's first championship series the Oilers handily defeated the Blazers, clinching the title on OKC's home ice. Lund assumed ownership of
207-602: The AHA and the Oilers disbanded due to World War II . Hockey Hall of Fame members Duke Keats and Bill Cowley played for short periods on the Tulsa Oilers during this period. The AHA was reorganized as the United States Hockey League for the 1945–46 season as a seven team league, once again including the Oilers. That league folded after the 1950–51 season. The team played at Avey's Coliseum during this time. Hockey Hall of Fame member Clint Smith played
230-560: The CHL along its history, including the Southern Hockey League , Western Professional Hockey League and International Hockey League . After two teams suspended operations during the 2014 offseason, the ECHL accepted the remaining seven teams as members in October 2014, meaning the end for the CHL after 22 seasons. The Central Hockey League (CHL) was revived in 1992 by Ray Miron and the efforts of Bill Levins , with
253-643: The CHL appointed former president of the Pittsburgh Penguins Steve Ryan to succeed Lewis. On March 8, 2013, the Central Hockey League announced an expansion team in Brampton, Ontario . The Brampton Beast would become the first Canadian team in the CHL's history. In October 2013, the Central Hockey League was purchased from Global Entertainment by all the team owners, putting the CHL business model in line with that of
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#1732780056862276-591: The CHL from the previous season. On September 2, 2010, the Oilers announced their first National Hockey League affiliation since their reformation in 1992 with the Colorado Avalanche, joining the Lake Erie Monsters of the AHL . On October 7, 2014, soon before the 2014–15 Central Hockey League season was set to begin, it was announced that the league had ceased operations and the Oilers, along with
299-407: The CHL until 1984 when the league folded. A new Central Hockey League was created in 1992 as a centrally owned league, owned by Ray Miron and Bill Levins . The league was operated by Ray and Monte Miron and funded by Chicago businessman and minor league sports entrepreneur Horn Chen . With the creation of the new CHL the Tulsa Oilers were a team once again. Ray Miron once coached the Oilers in
322-504: The ECHL, two teams (Mississippi and Columbus) were in the SPHL, and four organizations (Corpus Christi, Fort Worth Brahmas, Odessa, and Rio Grande Valley) fielded junior teams in the NAHL. Of the CHL's remaining teams prior to October 7, 2014, Tulsa, Wichita, Allen, Colorado, Fort Wayne, Missouri (now Kansas City), and Rapid City are still active as of 2023. Of the CHL's six original teams from
345-530: The NHL and AHL. On May 2, 2014 the St. Charles Chill ceased operations. Soon after, the Arizona Sundogs and Denver Cutthroats suspended operations. On October 7, 2014, it was announced that the ECHL had accepted the Central Hockey League's remaining seven teams as members for the 2014–15 season , officially signaling the end of the Central Hockey League after 22 seasons. The Allen Americans , who won
368-587: The Oilers announced a one-year affiliation with the St. Louis Blues of the NHL, which did not have an AHL affiliate, for the 2017–18 season. The affiliation was extended for another season in 2018–19, but also added the San Antonio Rampage , the Blues' new AHL affiliate. The Oilers and Blues continued the affiliation for the 2019–20 season, followed by the Oilers reaching a three-year affiliation agreement with
391-526: The Oilers' general manager on May 3, 2008. After finishing third to last in the CHL with 18 wins in 64 games in the 2008–09 season, Hall hired head coach Bruce Ramsay, fresh off a trip to the IHL's Turner Cup finals with the Muskegon Fury , on May 21, 2009. In Ramsay's first season as coach in 2009–10 season, the Oilers rebounded with 28 wins in 64 games to post the second highest point total increase in
414-548: The franchise in February 1999 after being the team's general manager. On June 23, 2013, Lund sold the team to the owners of the Wichita Thunder, the Steven brothers. The Steven brothers sold the team to Andy Scurto in 2021. Tulsa has previously had several other hockey teams named the "Oilers." The original Oilers joined the five team American Hockey Association as an expansion team in 1928. Their first home game
437-676: The idea of central ownership of both the league and the teams. Both men were from hockey backgrounds. Miron had been general manager of the Colorado Rockies (now the New Jersey Devils ), and had briefly been president of the previous Central Hockey League in 1976. In the inaugural 1992–93 season the league had six teams, including the Oklahoma City Blazers , the Tulsa Oilers , the Wichita Thunder ,
460-515: The last two CHL President's Cups, won two consecutive ECHL titles following the folding of the Central Hockey League. The Mississippi RiverKings, Tulsa Oilers and Wichita Thunder were the last of the original six franchises still playing at the end of the CHL's tenure; the RiverKings since folded, in 2018. In the 2014–15 season, ten teams (Allen, Brampton, Colorado, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Missouri, Quad City, Rapid City, Tulsa, and Wichita) were in
483-468: The old CHL and his son Monte had played for the Oilers in 1973–74. Tulsa claimed the CHL championship in the CHL's inaugural season under general manager Jeff Lund and head coach Garry Unger. The Oilers established a winning tradition, making the playoffs in nine of their first 13 seasons. However, with a decline in their performance and not qualifying for the playoffs since 2005 nor winning a playoff series since 1994, Lund hired former player Taylor Hall as
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#1732780056862506-540: Was January 1, 1929, against the Duluth Hornets, as part of the grand opening of the Tulsa Coliseum . The team won the AHA championship that season, and again in the 1930–31 season. For the 1932–33 season, the Oilers moved to St. Paul, Minnesota , and became the St. Paul Greyhounds, but halfway through the season they moved back to Tulsa once again becoming the Tulsa Oilers. At the end of the 1941–42 season,
529-544: Was founded by Ray Miron and Bill Levins and later sold to Global Entertainment Corporation, which operated the league from 2000 to 2013, at which point it was purchased by the individual franchise owners. As of the end of its final season in 2014, three of the 30 National Hockey League teams had affiliations with the CHL: the Dallas Stars , Minnesota Wild , and Tampa Bay Lightning . Several teams of defunct leagues joined
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