Over the years, Wichita and Tulsa have built one of the better rivalries in the Central Hockey League.
So maybe it wasn't surprising that Saturday's game between two teams long eliminated from the playoff chase still provided plenty of entertainment for the more than 9,000 fans in the stands.
The Thunder ended its worst season with a 7-5 victory over the Oilers.
On a night when Wichita's Jason Duda became the fourth player in league history -- joining longtime linemate Travis Clayton -- to record 500 assists, the two teams lined up at center ice after the game for the traditional end-of-season handshake.
"The last game of the season for both clubs and nobody really had that much to play for tonight, but everyone came out and played hard," Duda said. "An entertaining game for everybody that was here, it was nice to have over 9,000 fans. Our fans have been fantastic all year, even through a tough season."
The Thunder held leads of 2-1 and 4-2 and the end of the first two periods, then stretched the lead to 5-2 in the third period before Tulsa mounted a comeback.
The Oilers pulled within 6-5 on a breakaway goal by Steve Jensen at 15:44.
Wichita answered back 45 seconds later when Bruce Richardson fed Clayton on a 2-on-1 break. Duda recorded his third assist on the goal, finishing his season with 501 career assists. Duda also had two goals.
The conclusion of the tough season has the Thunder franchise heading into an uncertain offseason. There has been no decision made on whether interim coach Rob Weingartner will be retained.
Duda said he will take some time in the next few weeks to determine what lies ahead.
"I don't know for sure, I'd like to play again. Where, I don't know. With a year like this, its just really difficult," he said.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens and we'll just kind of play it by ear and go from there. If I was leaning towards playing, I'd say it was about 70-30."
For his part, Weingartner was glad to see his team close out the season on a positive note.
"It was good to see the guys show up in the last game of the year and we had a great fan base -- over 9,000, that was amazing. Tonight was a celebration for Jason, he's been a staple in this league for so many years," Weingartner said.
Notes -- To comply with a league rule that requires teams to suit up at least 13 players, Tulsa backup goalie Jeff Van Nytnatten played defender and team trainer B.J. Leyser suited up as reserve goalie.... The crowd of 9,048 was the Thunder's second largest of the season. Wichita ranked second in the CHL in attendance for the third consecutive season, averaging 5,849.
| Tulsa | 1 1 3 -- 5 |
| Wichita | 2 2 3 -- 7 |
First Period
Scoring--1, Tulsa, Kelly (Magnussen, Lackner) 3:51. 2, Wichita, Thompson (Bruce, Yanchishyn) 8:55. 3, Wichita, Lukajic (Duda, Richardson) (pp) 10:34. Penalties--Richards, T (interference); Burnett, T (hooking) 11:03; Wathier, W (hooking) 14:13; Burnett, T (hooking) 16:38.
Second Period
Scoring-- 4, Wichita, Yanchishyn (Bruce, Victor) 14:17. 5, Wichita, Duda (Lukajic, Clayton) (pp) 16:13. 6, Tulsa, Richards (Christian, McCutcheon) (pp) 17:29. Penalties--Richardson, W, (hooking) 10:40; Van Nynatten, T (slashing) 15:19; C. Bernier, W (tripping) 16:57; C. Bernier, W (fighting) 19:16; Richards, T (fighting) 19:16.
Third Period
Scoring-- 7, Wichita, Duda (Greene) 2:26. 8, Tulsa, McCutcheon (unassisted) 3:52. 9, Tulsa, McCutcheon (Burnett, Jensen) 6:31. 10, Wichita, Tetrault (Richardson, Duda) 10:24. 11, Tulsa, Jensen (unassisted) 15:44. 12, Wichita, Clayton (Richardson, Duda) 16:27. Penalties-- Kennedy, W (holding), 7:25; Van Nynatten, T (13:07).
Power plays--Tulsa 1-4, Wichita 2-5. Shots--Tulsa 9-14-18--42; Wichita 14-13-8--35. Saves--Tulsa, St. Vincent 35 shots, 28 saves; Wichita, Horrell 42-37. Referee--Tom Steinel. Linesmen--Anthony Rivera, Randy Sappo.
Attendance--9,048.
