Oilers win in a wild one

March 14, 2004 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Fort Worth Brahmas News Release


The Tulsa Oilers rallied from a two goal first period deficit to come back and defeat the Fort Worth Brahmas 5-4 on Saturday night at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

The game was a wild one, as the two teams combined for 165 minutes in penalties (FTW-102, TUL-63). The majority of the penalties were assessed at the 9:54 mark of the second period when an on ice melee broke out that featured four separate fights on the ice.

Fort Worth opened the scoring in the game with two goals just 38 seconds apart in the first period of play. Brahmas forward Steve Reid opened the scoring with the first goal of his professional career on a wrist shot from the right side at the 5:14 mark of the first. The Brahmas then extended their lead to 2-0 when Joey Bastien scored his 16th goal of the season just 38 seconds later. Tulsa's Wes Scanzano cut the Brahmas lead in half at the 8:51 mark of the first. Fort Worth answered Scanzano's goal when defenseman Peter Trumbley converted a backdoor pass from winger Derrell Upton at the 14:04 mark of the first to give Fort Worth a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period of play.

Early in the second period, the Oilers drew to within 3-2 when Shawn Scanzano scored at the 4:30 mark. The intensity in the game started to heat up, and emotions boiled over midway through the period when Fort Worth's Steve Reid and Tulsa's Doug Pirnak trigged a brawl that resulted in seven fighting majors, six game misconducts, one match penalty, and one ten minute misconduct penalty. The game was delayed for nearly twenty minutes as referee Tudor Floru sorted out all the penalties.

The Oilers seemed to get a spark from the melee as just nine seconds after the game resumed, Jason Bermingham scored a powerplay goal to tie the game at 3. The Oilers then went ahead 4-3 on a brilliant one on one move from forward Todd Marcellus that resulted in a breakaway goal. Tulsa carried the one goal lead into the locker room after two periods of play.

In the third period, Tulsa extended their lead to 5-3 when forward Cam Kuzyk netted a goal at the 2:29 mark of the period. Fort Worth came back on the next shift to pull back to within a goal at 5-4 on forward T.J. Warkus's tenth goal of the season. The Brahmas then turned up the heat, firing shots at will at the Tulsa net. Tim Kelleher, the Oilers goaltender, made save after save to keep the Brahmas from getting the equalizer. Fort Worth goaltender Erasmo Saltarelli went the Brahmas bench for an extra attacker with 1:13 left in regulation, but the Brahmas could not get a tying goal.

Kelleher was the first star of the game, as he made an amazing 57 saves on 61 Brahmas shots (a Fort Worth franchise record for shots on goal in a game). Erasmo Saltarelli took the loss for the Brahmas allowing the five Oilers goals on 25 shots.

The loss dropped the Brahmas record to 14-40-9 on the season, and extended their franchise record winless streak to fifteen consecutive games. Fort Worth will look to break that streak in their regular season finale this afternoon at the Fort Worth Convention Center against the Austin Ice Bats. Faceoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.



Central Hockey League Stories from March 14, 2004


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