Olkinuora re-assigned to Tulsa

(Photo by Kevin Pyle – www.photopyle.com) 

Friday, the Tulsa Oilers announced that goaltender Jussi Olkinuora has been re-assigned to the Oilers from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League–Tulsa’s AHL affiliate.

Olkinuora played a total of 222 minutes in Manitoba for a 5.13 goals against average.The 25 year-old from Helsinki, Finland began the 2015-16 campaign in Tulsa where he was between the pipes for seven games and earned a record of 2-3-2 with a 2.80 goals against average.The Oilers play tonight at the BOK Center where they will meet up with the Quad City Mallards in their first contest of a triple header weekend at home. Grab your spot in line as tonight Public Service of Oklahoma will be handing out light-up bracelets.-#GOilers-Below are excerpts of different Oilers information and facts. These provide reasons to attend Oilers game and reasons why it was a fun this to do in Tulsa.The Tulsa Oilers are playing in their 23rd consecutive season, right here in Tulsa. Hockey in Tulsa goes as far back as January 1, 1929. After World War II caused the original Oilers to stop play in Tulsa, there was second round of hockey in Green Country before the present-day Oilers made Tulsa their permanent home. If you are looking for things to do in Tulsa, the Oilers provide a great environment for families of ages.Speaking of homes, the Oilers have been house in state of the art facilities. Before the Oilers called the BOK Center home, they played their home games in the neighboring COX Convention Center. In 2008, the Oilers moved to their current residence at 200 South Denver Avenue West, the BOK Center. The BOK Center opened for the first time at the end of August 2008. The Tulsa Oilers are currently the only professional team who is fortunate enough to have their home jerseys hung in the locker rooms of the BOK Center. The locker rooms in the BOK Center are stunning quality. The locker rooms have wooden stalls for each player. Before each game, their uniforms and equipment are hung at their personal station, which features their own Tulsa Oilers Rug. There is a room for workouts, a players lounge and office space for coaches, trainers and equipment managers. Taking a tour of the BOK Center is one of our group opportunities, an excellent thing to do right here in Tulsa.Did you know that hockey pucks are created by vulcanized rubber? They are typically black and are 1 inch thick. The Oilers silkscreen the pucks to create a unique puck with the Oilers logo. Pucks must be frozen before games to keep them from bouncing too much, which is why we have multiple game pucks that get switched in to keep the pucks from getting a little to bouncy. Last weekend the Oilers faced the Utah Grizzlies both Thursday, February 4th and Saturday, February 6th. The Oilers played the Missouri Mavericks Wednesday night before facing the Grizzlies back to back. The Oilers were looking to lead the Utah-Tulsa series by adding a win, however their hard work wasn’t enough. The Grizzlies took the lead of the series by defeating the Oilers 3-1. The Grizzlies took a trip down to Allen before returning back to Tulsa for the game on Saturday. On Saturday, the Oilers took the rink decked in pink jerseys to support Turn Tulsa Pink, an organization that supports all forms of cancer patients in the Tulsa area. The jerseys were auctioned off after the game, with the proceeds going to Turn Tulsa Pink. Turns out, not only do the Oilers look good in pink, they also play good in Pink. This time the score was reverse, in the Oilers favor. The Oilers beat the Grizzlies 3-1. Pink in the Rink is extremely important to one Oiler in particular. Joe Sova was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma when he was eight, however he has been in remission since his battle. Sova used hockey as an outlet through his treatment, even getting to spend some time with the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks through the Make A Wish Foundation. The next time you are looking for things to do in Tulsa, make sure you put the Tulsa Oilers on the top of your list. You can catch Joe Sova and the rest of the Oilers right here in Tulsa with regular season games through April. You aren’t going to want to miss the things we have in store. Feel the BOOM!Update: Joe Sova was traded  to the Toledo Walleyes of the ECHL. Sova was traded for future considerations. Sova has played for Toledo before and is returning a familiar ice rink.Trades happen all the time, especially in the ECHL. February is a hot month for trades as the deadline for them is in the short month and coaches are trying to get their work done before it’s too late. The Oilers have made quite a few moves that include trading forward Brandon Wong and defenseman Trevor Campbell. Although Campbell never played in a game with the Oilers due to injury, he was a large part of the Oilers and in the community of Tulsa as he came to a lot of appearances for the franchise and built relationships with the fans. Wong, however, is someone that the fans are experessing their missing of. Brandon Wong played on a hot line for the Oilers and was defiantely one of the crowd pleases. Wherever Wong goes, he will be favored. For now, he and Trevor Campbell get to favor the fans of the Indy Fuel.Tonight the Oilers will face the Quad City Mallards for the third time this season. The two squads will play a total of 5 times this season. 3 times will be in Quad City, and two in Tulsa.In their previous meetings, each team walked away with a win but the Oilers hope to capture all four points avaialble to this from the Mallards this weekend. The Oilers are four spots above the team from Quad City in the Western Conference of the ECHL standings.