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Tulsa Oilers head coach Rob Murray watches his players practice Monday on the first day of training.
Alex Kromm skates with the puck in the Tulsa Oilers’ first practice of the season on Monday.
John Rittenoure for the world of Tulsa
After a short offseason, the Tulsa Oilers began to prepare for the 2021-22 season with the start of training camp Monday at the Oilers Ice Center.
A total of 19 players were on the roster for the opening day of the camp, which runs through Friday and resumes next week for three days before the start of the ECHL season on October 22.
Coach Rob Murray is eagerly awaiting a return to business as usual, but that might not yet be fully possible.
“There are still league protocols (COVID),†Murray said. “You’d kind of like to put it all behind us, but the truth is, we’re not out of it yet. But it’s good to go and at the right time too. Last year we waited until December to start the season and started training camp the day after Thanksgiving.
“Now we are back to normal in October and are starting the season on time.”
Murray had less than four months to recruit due to the late end of last season and the impact of COVID still being felt.
“Recruiting has been a bit trickier this summer,†he said. “The NCAA has given all of its seniors an extra year due to COVID, so you have fifth year seniors playing in colleges. There was no one coming out of the school, so the recruiting pool was so small that it was difficult to find players. There are also a lot of players who haven’t played last year and have since found work elsewhere. So a good percentage of the guys we thought would sit down and come back chose not to.
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