FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 19, 2025 

HEAD COACH ROB MURRAY’S OILERS WIN IN HIS 1000^TH ECHL REGULAR SEASON GAME 

Oilers top Iowa 5-4 as Head Coach Rob Murray becomes fourth coach in ECHL’s 38-season history to direct 1000 games 

Coraville, Ia.—Tulsa Oilers, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks and the AHL’s San Diego Gulls, and powered by Community Care, defeated Iowa 5-4 at Xtream Arena in Head Coach Rob Murray’s 1000^th regular season ECHL game behind the bench on Sunday afternoon.  

Jaxsen Wiebe opened his scoring account for the 2025-26 season 17 seconds into the game, snapping a penalty shot past William Rousseau to place the Oilers up 1-0 for the second consecutive game. Unlike Friday, the Oilers took advantage of early scoring to set up a multi-goal lead when Easton Armstrong redirected a net-mouth opportunity from Tyrell Goulbourne, extending the Oilers lead to 2-0 just 88 seconds into the action. Tulsa has now scored three goals in the opening 90 seconds of contests this season. 

Adam McMaster continued the Oilers’ lead to 3-0 1:50 into the back half of the game, streaking to the far post before roofing a backdoor feed from Wiebe via an in-stride backhand deflection. Will Francis collected his first professional point with the secondary assist on the tally. However, one minute later Jaxson Nelson scored his second goal of the season by converting a power-play opportunity on Iowa’s 30^th shot of the contest and cut Tulsa’s lead to 3-1. 

Jaxson Nelson scored his second power-play goal of the afternoon 3:47 into the third period to bring the Heartlanders within one at 3-2. Josh Nelson answered just 58 seconds later, corralling a two-line pass from Francis and sliding a breakaway chance through Rousseau’s five hole for his second goal in as many games and a 4-2 Oilers’ lead. Yuki Miura scored the third goal in a three-minute span by tucking a below-the-circles breakaway chance past Tomas Suchanek’s extended leg to narrow the lead to 4-3. Josh Nelson mopped up a right-wing shot from Wiebe that fell in the slot after catching the left post for his team-leading third goal of the season and his second of the period, making it 5-3 with 4:22 remaining. Jack O’Brien brought Iowa back within one with 57 seconds remaining, popping home a rebound during an extra-attacker scenario, but Suchanek and company held strong the rest of the final minute to seal the 5-4 win. 

Suchanek stopped 47 of 51 shots to earn the win in his first appearance in 546 days following an injury that forced the second-year pro to miss the entire 2024-25 season. 

Head Coach Rob Murray appeared behind an ECHL bench for the 1000^th time in the regular season this afternoon, becoming the fourth coach to reach the milestone. The ninth-year head coach of the Oilers joins John Marks as the only coaches to coach in 1000 or more regular season games and also win a Kelly Cup during the league’s 38-season history.  

The Oilers aim to start their first winning streak of the season next week in their home opening weekend, starting off with a 7:05 p.m. battle with the Tahoe Knight Monsters on Friday, Oct. 24 at the BOK Center. Tulsa hosts Tahoe again on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. in the second Mountain Division game of the Oilers’ 2025-26 campaign.