Today in history: April 29

Some OT heroics on April 29 in Indianapolis hockey history

1983: In danger of going down 3-1 in the Adams Cup Finals, the Checkers beat Birmingham 5-4 on the road to knot the championship series at 2-2 in OT. They wouldn’t lose a game the rest of the way. Red Laurence takes a draw from Garth MacGuigan and rifles the puck past Owen Lessard with 1 second left in overtime to win it. Scott Howson, Dave Simpson, Kevin Devine and Gord Dineen score third-period goals to rally the Checkers back from deficits of 2-0 and 3-1.

1999: Marc Lamothe continues an amazing streak of goaltending. He extends his shutout streak to 179:11 in a 1-0 double-overtime victory over the Detroit Vipers in Game 1 of their semifinal series. He turns away 45 shots over 83:57 before Craig Mills finally breaks the tie with a double-OT goal. Dave Hymovitz and Bob Lachance assist. The shutout streak would extend to 194:09 before it would be broken late in the first period of Game 2. This game would also be the IHL Ice’s final victory. 

Birthdays

Dean Magee: Played eight games with the Racers in their final aborted 1978 season. The center had one assist in a red, white and blue uniform. A native of Banff, Alberta, he is 56 today. 

George Servinis: Winger who scored 41 goals and added 54 assists for the Checkers' final entry in the IHL in 1986-87. They wouldn't lead the team, because that was the year of Ron Handy's incredible 135-point season. He'd follow that up with a 34-goal season in Kalamazoo the next year, which earned him a brief NHL callup to Minnesota. A native of Toronto, he is 49.

Marc D'Amour: A mainstay in the old CHL and IHL as an adversary of the Checkers with Colorado and Salt Lake, he became one of the "good guys" in the Ice's inaugural 1988-89 season, playing six games in an Ice uniform and posting a 3.70 GAA. The goaltender also enjoyed brief cups of coffee with the Calgary Flames (12 games) in 1985-86, and the Philadelphia Flyers in the same season he suited up for the Ice. A native of Sudbury, Ontario, he is 50.