Today in history: January 2

January 2

Claude St. Sauveur: Racers center in their final two years. In 89 games, he had 40 goals and 46 assists. He was the team's leading scorer in 1977-78 with 36 goals and 42 assists. He played in 17 of the team's 18 games the following year and had four goals and two assists. St. Sauveur played 364 games in the WHA/NHL from 1972 through the 1978-79 season, with 135 goals and 135 assists. He played in the WHA for the Philadelphia/Vancouver Blazers, Calgary Cowboys, and Edmonton Oilers and in the NHL with the Atlanta Flames before joining the Racers. He also played 17 games with the Cincinnati Stingers following the Racers' folding. He played his last two years in the IHL, where he maintained a two-points-per-game pace with the Milwaukee Admirals. A native of St. Hyancinthe, Quebec, he is 60 . 

Neal Coulter: Member of the Checkers for parts of three seasons. He matriculated to the team at the end of the 1982-83 year when his OHL career was finished, and played through the 1984-85 season. In 61 games with the CHL Checkers, he had seven goals and 11 assists, and had two goals in the 1984 Adams Cup Playoffs, in which the Checkers were a surprise finalist. The following year, the Checkers made their IHL debut and he had a 31-goal, 26-assist season, playing all 82 games. All told, he played 143 games across the two leagues with 38 goals and 36 assists. He also had five playoff goals in 11 games. He would earn the callup to the NHL in 1985-86 and play 26 games with the Islanders over three seasons. His claim to fame is that he scored a goal on the first shot of his first game against Washington's Al Jensen. Coulter spent his entire pro career in the Isles' organization and retired after the 1987-88 season. A native of Toronto, he is 49. 

Brett Bruneteau: To our knowledge, the only third-generation player to suit up for an Indianapolis-based team. Bruneteau was a forward for the Ice in 2007-08, with one goal and seven assists in 14 games. He would be dealt to Des Moines midway through the year, which was the third of his four USHL seasons. Bruneteau played two years collegiately at North Dakota -- where he received his undergraduate degree in two years -- and is currently playing for the University of Vermont. Eligibility-wise, he is a junior, but he is a graduate student at UVM. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2007 draft by the Washington Capitals. Bruneteau's grandfater, Eddie Bruneteau, played for the Capitals in the 1940s, as did his great-uncle Modere "Mud" Bruneteau. A native of Omaha, Neb. -- where Eddie settled and helped develop the local hockey scene upon his retirement as a player more than a half-century ago -- Brett is 23.

Today in history: December 13

December 13 in Indianapolis hockey history

1942: The Capitals play their first game after gas rationing begins. Crowds that had numbered in the 7,000+ range for weekend games were cut in half – 3,587 showed up to see a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Hornets, a game that included six third-period goals.

1952: The Capitals and Providence Reds combine for 19 goals in an 11-8 Caps win at the Coliseum. Earl Reibel scored hat trick, Ed Bruneteau had two goals and an assist, Johnny Wilson had a four-point night with two goals and two assists, and goaltender Glenn Hall made 38 saves and got the win despite allowing eight goals.

1958: A squabble is played out in the Indianapolis Star. Toledo GM Andy Mulligan wants the powerful Cincinnati Mohawks, winners of five straight Turner Cups, thrown out of the IHL because of salary cap violations and keeping too many players on the roster. Chiefs coach Leo Lamoureux says: “Why not go out and get better talent and beat Cincinnati,” and accuses Mulligan of trying to turn the IHL into an industrial league. The Mohawks would fold after that season -- the only non-championship season in their six-year tenure -- and the Chiefs would win the Turner Cup.

1961: A brawl between the Chiefs and Fort Wayne Komets ends the game 8:34 early, with Fort Wayne leading 3-2. It was initially ruled a Komets win, but the IHL required the game to be completed on Jan. 6 before the regularly-scheduled game. A protest by the Chiefs’ owner Mel Ross got the IHL to play it after the initial game. The Chiefs rallied to win 5-3. The Chiefs’ Grant Morton and Fort Wayne’s Eddie Long were suspended as a result of the brawl. The bench-clearing brawl began with a scrap between Bill Wilkes and the Komets’ Eddie Long. Soon, Chiefs enforcer Marcel Goyette got tied up with another Komet, and when the goalies began fighting, the benches emptied. Seventeeen fighting majors, nine misconducts and two game misconducts were given out, a total of 197 penalty minutes in the third period and 229 for the game. 

1978: The Racers play their final game, losing to New England 7-4 in front of 4,623 fans. Angie Moretto  scored the team’s last goal, deflecting Don Larway’s shot into the net with 1:45 left. Gordie Howe scored a goal for the Whalers. 

1998: The Ice’s Remi Royer scores 13 seconds into the game to give the Ice an early lead in a 4-2 victory at Fort Wayne. 

Birthday

Brian McKee: Defenseman who played four games for the Checkers in 1986-87, shortly after finishing his college career at Bowling Green. He would become a mainstay in the IHL for most of his nine-year pro career, including a 30-goal season for the Fort Wayne Komets in 1990-91, when he was the IHL's Most Oustanding Defenseman. A native of Willowdale, Ont., he is 47. 

Alex Wideman: Ice forward from 2009-11. In 115 games, the diminutive (5-8, 145) forward had 15 goals and 36 assists, as well as six points in 14 postseason games. Wideman was a mainstay on the high-scoring Ice team of 2010-11, in which he had five goals and 27 assists. He is currently a freshman at Miami (Ohio). A native of St. Louis, he is 20.

Today in history: August 1

One significant moment in Indianapolis hockey history today

1979: Indianapolis is granted an expansion franchise in the Central Hockey League, to be named the Checkers. The New York Islanders would own and operate the club, with Jim Devellano being named general manager. The Isles owned and operated the club for five years, in which it won two championships and advanced to the Adams Cup final three times. When the league folded in 1984, the team transferred to the International Hockey League, where it played three more seasons. The Checkers were a direct predecessor of the Indianapolis Ice of the IHL and new CHL, as the team was re-named after being dormant in 1987-88. 

And a handful of significant birthdays

Ed Bruneteau: Right wing who played for the Capitals in three different stints spanning the life of the franchise. He played 13 games in 1940-41, the team's second season, and also made his NHL debut with the Red Wings that year. He rejoined the Caps from 1947-49, and again in the 1951-52 season. All told, he played 172 games for the Capitals, tallying 62 goals and 62 assists. He had a 20-goal season in 1948-49, and a 21-goal year in 1951-52. After his first stint with the Caps, he played senior hockey with the Quebec Aces during the early war years, and ended up in the NHL with the Red Wings by 1943-44. Eddie was the younger brother of former Capital and Red Wing Mud Bruneteau, with whom he played in Detroit. Ed also has more family ties to Indianapolis, as his grandson Brett Bruneteau played for the Indiana Ice in 2007-08. Ed won the Allan Cup -- Canada's senior hockey title -- in 1944, and played in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1945. He continued with the Wings until splitting the 1947-48 season with Detroit and Indianapolis, and played his final NHL game in 1948-49. He had 40 goals and 42 assists in 181 NHL games. He also made a name for himself in Omaha -- where the Red Wings "AA" affiliate was stationed -- in-between Capitals stints. Playing for a team his brother was coaching, he led the Knights to the 1951 championship in the old USHL, and was an All-Star in that league and in the IHL. He retired as a player in 1954 at age 34. Eddie settled in Omaha. He coached the inaugural Omaha Lancers team in 1986-87 as a midseason replacement. The team went 0-46-2 that year, he coached the team for 21 of those games, all losses. A native of St. Boniface, Manitoba, he was born in 1919. He passed away in 2002. 

Harold "Hal" Jackson: A defenseman for the Capitals from 1940-44, he plays a significant role in the development of hockey in Indianapolis. He actually helped knock the Capitals out of the 1940 AHL playoffs as a defenseman with the Providence Reds, scoring a triple-OT goal in Game 1. He was dealt to the Red Wings (and assigned to Indianapolis) in a December 1940 deal for Cecil Dillon and Eddie Bush. Jackson played 145 games on the blueline in Capitals blue, primarily from 1940-43 -- he skated one game in the 1943-44 season. He had 16 goals and 43 assists total, including a 9-16-25 year in 1942-43. He had two goals and five assists in the playoffs to lead the Caps to the 1942 Calder Cup, and also helped the team reach the AHL's championship series the following year. Jackson also got the call to Detroit that year and won the Stanley Cup. His name appears on the Cup twice -- he also won it with Chicago in 1938. Jackson played 219 NHL games for the Blackhawks and Red Wings between 1936-47. Upon his retirement, he settled in Indianapolis and helped found junior hockey in the city, including the Indianapolis Youth Hockey Association. He also served as an official, off-ice official and builder of the game in Indianapolis. A native of Cedar Springs, Ontario, he was born in 1918 and passed away in 1997. 

Enio Sclisizzi: One of the highest-scoring players to pull on a Capitals sweater, Sclisizzi played 314 games for the Capitals over six seasons -- from 1946-52. He had 125 goals and 155 assists in the blue and white, second all-time among Caps players in goals, assists, points and games played. He tallied the 20-goal mark four times with the Caps, and had 19 goals in a fifth year. He had 29 goals and 38 assists in 1947-48, his highest-scoring year with the Caps, and therefore spent much of the next year in Detroit. He returned to the Capitals in 1949-50 and tallied 30 goals and 36 assists, helping lead the team to a Calder Cup championship. He was an AHL First-Team All-Star in 1951-52, with 24 goals and 34 assists on a last-place team. He also played briefly for the Red Wings that year, and had his name engraved on the original Stanley Cup, but it was removed when a new Cup was introduced in 1957. He also went by Jim Enio -- a name given to him by Foster Hewitt -- and considered changing his name officially, but reportedly chose to stick with Sclisizzi upon his mother's request. After the Caps folded in 1952, he was traded to the Blackhawks, and continued to play in the AHL and WHL until 1959. A native of Milton, Ontario, he is 86. 

Bobby Rivard: Winger who joined the Chiefs partway through the 1960-61 season and played through the club's demise in 1962. He was a high-scoring player who had 40 goals and 51 assists in the 1961-62 season, the second-highest scoring in the Chiefs' seven-year history. After the Chiefs' demise, he moved up State Road 37 to Fort Wayne, where he played four years for the Komets -- including back-to-back 100-point seasons from 1964-66 -- and won the Turner Cup in 1963 and 1965. He was the IHL's top scorer in 1966, moved to the AHL with Quebec the following year -- where he was the league's Rookie of the Year -- and then to the NHL with the expansion Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967-68. He had five goals and 12 assists in 27 games with the Pens. He continued to play, primarily in the AHL with Baltimore, through 1976. In 16 pro seasons, he tallied 20 goals 15 times, 30 goals five times and 40 goals three times. A native of Sherbrooke, Quebec, he is 72. 

Dan Vincelette: Rugged left wing who played for the Ice from 1989-92. He played 80 games for the Ice -- 49 of which came in the 1989-90 Turner Cup season, in which he had 16 goals, 13 assists and 262 PIMs. He had 26 goals, 19 assists and 397 penalty minutes overall. He did not play in the postseason during the Turner Cup year, but did score two goals in the epic seven-game loss to Fort Wayne in the 1991 IHL quarterfinals. The Blackhawks' fourth-round pick in 1985, he also played 193 NHL games for Chicago and Quebec between 1987-92, with a 20-22-42 line and 351 penalty minutes. He continued to play in the IHL (Atlanta, San Diego, San Francisco) in Europe and senior hockey in Quebec before retiring in 1997. A native of Verdun, Quebec, he is 44.