Tulsa Oilers The Tulsa Oilers are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL , formerly in the Central Hockey League . They played their home games at the Maxwell Center ( also known as Cox Business 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 " , a moniker that continues to this day among many Tulsans . The Oilers were one of only two teams that played each season in the CHL since its rebirth in 1992 ( the other being the Wichita Thunder ) . The Oilers have a winning tradition , making the playoffs in nine of their 13 seasons . Owner Jeff Lund played an integral part of assembling the 1992 - 93 team , a scrappy bunch 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 . 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 the franchise in February 1999 after being the team ' s General Manager . Under Lund ' s direction , over two million fans have attended an Oilers game at the Tulsa Convention Center . Lund currently sits on the CHL Executive Committee . The Central Hockey Leagues website announced on June 25 , 2013 that Jeff Lund sold the franchise to Steven Brothers Sports Management , LLC . They are also the owners of the Wichita Thunder . http : / / www . centralhockeyleague . com / news / index . html ? article _ id = 9800 On October 7th , 2014 the Oilers announced on their website that they had been accepted as a new expansion team into the ECHL , as had the rest of the remaining franchises that were in the Central Hockey League . They were placed in the Central Division ( along with the rest of the old CHL franchises ) of the Western Conference . History . Tulsa has had several other low minor league hockey teams in its history , all nicknamed " Oilers . " AHA . The original Oilers joined the five team American Hockey Association as an expansion team in 1928 . Their first home game 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 half way through the season they moved back to Tulsa once again becoming the Tulsa Oilers . At the end of the 1941 - 42 season the AHA disbanded due to World War II . Hockey Hall of Famers Duke Keats and Bill Cowley played for short periods on the Tulsa Oilers during this period . USHL . 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 Famer Clint Smith played the 47 - 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 . CHL . The original Central Hockey League was founded in the 1963 - 64 season . The second version of the Tulsa Oilers joined that league for the 1964 - 65 season . The team left Tulsa in February , 1984 , when its owners went bankrupt and the team went into receivership . Other teams in the league paid to keep the Oilers in operation so as not to unbalance the schedule , and the team — under coach Tom Webster — went on to win the league championship , despite playing all games on the road after February . The league disbanded following the end of the season . Hockey Hall of Famer Marcel Pronovost followed his 20 year NHL career with two seasons of play on the Tulsa Oilers in the 69 - 70 and 70 - 71 seasons . CHL Reborn . A new Central Hockey League was created in 1992 as a centrally owned league , owned by Ray Miron and Bill Levins , and operated by Ray and Monte Miron and funded by Chicago businessman and minor league sports entrepreneur Horn Chen , and the Tulsa Oilers were a team once again . Ray once coached the Tulsa Oilers in the old CHL and his son Monte had played for the Tulsa Oilers in 1973 - 74 . Tulsa claimed the CHL championship in the inaugural season .