Oilers add rookies Vernace, Williams

TULSA, Okla. –The Tulsa Oilers, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues, announced the team has signed forward Daniel Vernace and goaltender Devin Williams to contracts for the 2017-18 season.

Vernace, 25, spent the entire 2016-17 season in the Southern Professional Hockey League, where he recorded 24 points (13g-11a) in 55 games between Evansville, Fayetteville and Roanoke. He played 42 of those games for the expansion Rail Yard Dawgs, compiling 19 points (11g-8a).

The North York, Ontario native picked up three assists in 10 games for the Brampton Beast at the end of the 2015-16 season. Vernace played at Lake Superior State University from 2012-16, where he had seven points (5g-2a) in 43 games.

Williams, 21, turns pro after playing one season at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he went 8-4-0 with a 2.80 goals-against average and an .896 save percentage. From 2012-16, the Saginaw, Mich. native appeared in 175 games for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. Williams finished his junior career with a 106-47-8 record, a 3.02 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage, with nine shutouts.