The ice chips have barely settled since the Oilers season ended in March, but the work has never stopped in rebuilding the Oilers squad.

Wooster recently welcomed the Wooster Oilers prospects that are looking to make the 2011-2012 edition of the Great Lakes Junior Hockey League their own.

“The long trips to the scouting venues have seemed to pay off at first glance,” said Hart Duddy, the Oilers returning head coach. “The staff was very impressed with quite a few skaters this weekend. We have quite a bit of rebuilding to do this off season, and I think we have found a great base to build from. We were greatly impressed with a couple of prospects. We got tenders signed and are now hoping to build off them when it’s time to sign contracts,” concluded the coach.

The Oilers recently presented and got nine tenders signed, with a fairly good draft list put together.

“When you are doing the things you should be doing, as in moving players on to college, it is very important to identify the prospects that are going to be solid players and citizens,” stated Joe Berney, the Oilers assistant coach. “We had to build from the net out and we like the two goaltenders we got inked this weekend, in Alex Batson and young Ryan Wickiser. We picked up a really special defenseman in Josh Turkay and real talents in forwards Josh Ybarra and Doug Andrews. It is a good start when you get a few players that have played together before. It should give you that little bit of an edge. Add the good group of returning players from last season and it’s hard not to get a little excited about the future.”

The Oilers will continue to seek out talent in the next couple of months, as they prepare for the new season beginning in early September.