Today in history: May 2

Some playoff heroics today

1983: A 3-2 double-OT victory puts the Checkers on the brink of a championship. It was another late come-from-behind, as Ron Handy scores an unassisted goal with 2:29 left to tie the game at 2-2. Scott Howson scores a power play goal 6:08 into the second OT to win it They lead the Birmingham South Stars 4-2 in a best-of-9 series. 

2007: Mike Embach scores his second OT goal of the playoffs. Eric Miller also has a hat trick as the Ice beat Waterloo 4-3 in the first game of a three-team round-robin series. This gives the Ice the upper hand in advancing to the USHL finals. 

2009: The Ice become the first team in the USHL playoffs to solve Fargo goaltender Mike Lee with a four-goal blitz in the last half of the game. Tied 1-1, John Parker scores with 3:45 left in the second to give the Ice the leads. Grant Blakey, Sebastian Goeffrion and Brandon Richardson would add third-period goals to give the Ice a 5-2 victory and even the Clark Cup Finals at 1-1. The Ice would go on to win the next two games and clinch the championship. 

Birthdays

Jerome "Jud" McAtee: "Jud" played parts of four seasons with the Indianapolis Capitals in the 1940s, breaking in as a 20-year-old with the Caps in the 1940-41 season and continuing through the postwar period. He totaled 52 goals, 71 assists and just 16 PIMs in 194 games from 1940-43, and again in the 1945-46 season. During the war, he also played 46 NHL games with the Red Wings, including 14 starts in the 1945 Stanley Cup Playoffs, in which he scored twice. The diminutive (5-9, 170) center from Stratford, Ontario was a recognizable Capital. He was born in 1920, and passed away on Feb. 22 of this year at age 90. He finished his playing career in Tulsa at the end of the 1940s, and would settle there in his post-hockey career. 

Jim Hargreaves: Defenseman who played 37 games for the Racers in their inaugural 1974-75 year, scoring two goals. It was part of a six-year big-league career that saw him make an NHL stop in Vancouver and WHA stints with Winnipeg, Indianapolis and San Diego. He was the No. 16 pick of the 1970 NHL draft by the Canucks. A native of Winnipeg, he was born in 1950. 

Steve Stoyanovich: A high-scoring center with the Checkers, Stoyanovich was a key cog in both Adams Cup runs. He had 42 goals in 1981-82, and followed it up with 41 goals and 43 assists the next year. He totaled 83 goals and 73 assists in 159 games in those two seasons, and also tallied 13 goals and 11 assists in the playoffs in those two years, helping lead the Checkers to back-to-back championships. He was a fourth-round pick of the Islanders in 1977, and ended up playing 23 games with the Hartford Whalers the year after leaving Indy. A native of London, Ontario, he is 54 years old.

Ryan Reid: Defenseman who joined the Ice for the final 10 games of the 2000-01 season and helped them in a push to make the playoffs -- which they clinched on the regular season's final day. He had one goal, one assist and 49 PIMs in those 10 games. He had a long career in the Colonial/United, Western Professional, Southern Professional, East Coast and Central Hockey Leagues. A native of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, he is 40 today. 

Tristin Llewellyn: Defenseman who was the youngest original USHL Ice player -- age 15 when he first took the ice for the Ice. He totaled four goals and nine assists in 65 games from 2004-06 before being traded to the Tri-City Storm. He played three-plus seasons at the University of Michigan, and has finished this season with the ECHL's Elmira Jackals, playing 33 regular-season games. A native of Ann Arbor, Mich., he is 22 today.

Mike Gurtler: Winger who played 29 games for the USHL Ice in 2006-07, totaling seven goals and four assists. He then spent four years at Mercyhurst College where he had 44 goals and 54 assists before signing with the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors at the end of this season, where he currently plays. A native of Rochester, N.Y., he is 24.