2002-2003 553
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Bruce Garber was set to take the place of Gary Unger. He announced that his last game of the season would be on December 20th. He resigned to head back home and work for a Sports Memorabilia place. His record with the Oilers was 11-9-6.

Since then, Bishop Kelley hockey coach and former CHL, IHL, and ECHL player, Butch Kaebel was named the Oilers interim coach. On January 15th Kaebel was named the Oilers coach for the remainder of the season.

Oilers Trade Millar To Corpus Christi


Wednesday, 28 January, 2004

The Tulsa Oilers have traded forward Aaron Millar to the Corpus Christi Rayz for rookie center Nick Udovicic (Yew-doh-VISS-ick), the team announced today.

Millar, 25, was in his third season with the Oilers. A native of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., Millar scored 21 points (6G, 15A) with 18 penalty minutes in 40 games with the Oilers this season. Millar's best season with Tulsa was in 2001-2002, when he scored 43 points (17G, 26A) with 26 penalty minutes in 49 games.

Udovicic, 24, joins the Oilers after starting his rookie season with Corpus Christi. In 39 games with the Rayz, Udovicic tallied 22 points (12G, 10A) and 56 penalty minutes. The first-year centerman played collegiately at the University of Findlay the past three seasons, racking up 52 points (21G, 31A) and 115 penalty minutes.


Harper sees end of career.

Oilers defenseman is retiring from the sport because of ailing back.

Regan Harper found it difficult to leave the Convention Center Arena ice after the Tulsa Oilers' final practice of the season Thursday.

"I had to be the last one off the ice because it was my last practice," Harper said. "As I was going off, I was getting all choked up."

Harper, 32, will end his eight-year pro playing career this weekend.

Last autumn, Harper determined the 2003-04 season would be his last. An ailing back limited Harper to a combined 22 games over the previous two years.

"I wanted to come back this year and do it right by playing a full season," Harper said. "We came so close to making the playoffs last year, I wanted to contribute by helping us take it to the next level, but it didn't work out that way.

"The fantasy is to go out in a fairy-tale type of way by winning a championship, but we had a lot of stuff happen that we didn't expect. I am happy that I got to play another year with Todd Marcellus and an awesome group of guys, so I have no regrets about coming back."

Harper and Marcellus also were teammates with the New Mexico Scorpions in 1997-98.

Last Saturday, Harper was honored as the Oilers' top defenseman. He leads the team with a plus-16 rating.

Coach Butch Kaebel is disappointed that Harper is retiring.

"Regan is a great athlete and a great person," Kaebel said. "He's the type of player you can build your team around. He does all the little things that aren't on the stat sheet to help the team.

"He's well respected in our locker room, by me as a coach, by our front office and our fans. He's active throughout the community. He's humble and he never dodges people wanting his autograph. He's such a great character person."

Harper is thankful he could play the last two years with the Oilers after a back injury nearly ended his career with Corpus Christi in 2001.

"I have a lot of gratitude to Corey for giving me the chance to come here last season and work my way back into shape," Harper said. "If my career ended two years ago, there always would've been something in my mind about whether or not I should've played again."

Harper's last game in Tulsa will come against his first pro team and coach, Oklahoma City's Doug Sauter.

Harper hopes to begin his post-playing days by attending a chiropractic college in Toronto.

"I want to have a rewarding career that can help other people," Harper said.

Harper also would like to be a coach.

"Whether it's 5-year-olds or 15-year-olds, I want to stay around hockey," Harper said.