April 21 in Indianapolis hockey history. Daniil Tarasov tallies a 5-point night in a big playoff win in 2012, John Kemp has four assists in a 2007 postseason victory, an epic playoff series goes the wrong way for the Ice in 1991, and a Brass Bonanza reference.
2012: The Ice thump Dubuque 6-3 to take a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series. Daniil Tarasov tallies a five-point night with three goals and two assists. Jacob Fallon adds three assists, while Sean Kuraly, Christian Hilbrich and Robbie Baillargeon all score. Jon Gillies stops 34 shots.
2007: John Kemp assists on four goals, and both Gregory Squires (2G, A) and Garrett Roe (G, 2A) post three-point nights as the Ice whip Green Bay 6-2 to take a 3-0 lead in their first-round series. Alex Kangas stops 17 shots in a penalty-filled game that sees the Ice go 2-14 on the power play and Green Bay 1-8. The teams combine for 56 penalty minutes.
1991: One of the most epic playoff series in Indianapolis history ends suddenly, as Lonnie Loach scores for Fort Wayne at 18:29 of overtime to give the Komets a 4-3 win in the game and the first-round playoff series. Brian Noonan assists on a first-period goal, but the Ice find themselves down 3-1 midway through the second. Noonan scores on a feed from Warren Rychel at 1:09 of the third, and ties the game at 11:21 of the period. Jim Waite makes 19 saves for the Ice in the loss.
1984: The Checkers fall 7-3 to the Oilers in the Adams Cup Final Game 2 at the Coliseum. Scott Howson, Gerald Diduck and Red Laurence score third-period goals -- the first two 18 seconds apart -- but the team was in a 6-0 hole at the time.
1976: The New England Whalers turn the tables on the Racers, as Cap Raeder makes 22 saves to blank the Racers 3-0 in Hartford in Game 3 of their playoff series, despite a 31-save effort for Jim Park. Alan Hangsleben cues up Brass Bonanza twice for the Whalers, who take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Happy birthday to ...
Reggie Thomas: A perennial Racer, he was a mainstay of hte team in both of its playoff seasons, and played three years with the club between 1975-78. He had 20-goal seasons in both playoff years, and 208 games with the Racers, he had 63 goals and 63 assists. He had a huge playoff year in 1977, when the Racers swept Cincinnati in the opening round, with seven goals and nine assists in nine games. In total, Reggie played the last six WHA seasons with the Los Angeles Sharks, Michigan Stags/Baltimore Blades, Racers and Cincinnati Stingers. He played 39 NHL games with the Quebec Nordiques after the two leagues merged in 1979. He played 467 games combined between the two leagues, with 130 goals and 145 assists. Thomas retired in 1983-84 after spending several years at the end of his career in the minor leagues. He returned to Indianapolis in 1988-89 and coached the first-year IHL Ice at the end of the season after Archie Henderson had to step down. He has three sons who have also played hockey. A native of London, Ontario, he is 61.
Ron Ullyot: Coach of the Indianapolis Checkers in their final two seasons, 1985-87. The Checkers were 78-73-1-12 under his tenure, making the playoffs both years. Prior to joining the Checkers, he had coached eight seasons in Port Huron, Fort Worth and Fort Wayne in the IHL and CHL, and had played seven seasons for the Fort Wayne Komets from 1968-75. He has relocated to Florida, where he is in business. A native of Saskatoon, SK, he is 68.
Ken Boone: Enforcer for the Indianapolis Ice in two CHL stints -- 1999-2001 and 2003-04. He played 140 games for the Ice, scoring 24 goals, assisting on 22, and tallying 745 penalty minutes. Boone found a home in Indy, where he played more than half of his five-year career. He had four 300-PIM seasons in that career. Since retiring from hockey in 2004, he has remained in Indianapolis and is a member of the Indianapolis Fire Department. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, he is 38.
Brandon Christian: Left wing who played 10 games for the Ice in 2000-01, tallying a goal, an assist and 116 PIMs in those 10 games. He played six seasons, all at the "AA" minor pro level, and four featured triple-digit PIMs. He then played in the rough-and-tumble LNAH in Quebec from 2004-13. A native of Burlington, Ontario, he is 42.
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