Today in history: December 17

December 17 in Indianapolis hockey history

1960: Pierre Brillant, the all-time leading professional scorer in Indianapolis hockey history, scores the last two of his 204 goals as a Chief in a 7-3 loss to Minneapolis. He would be traded after five scoreless games. 

1961: Carpooling home after a 7-5 win in Toledo, a car driven by Chiefs coach Alex Shibicky hits an icy patch on the road, goes through a guard rail and 75 feet down an embankment. Amazingly, the car comes to a rest next to a river and everyone survives. Shibicky has a stiff neck, goaltender Chuck Adamson a bruised back, Doug Monro, Joe Morneau and Bobby Rivard were also there. They hitch a ride to Indianapolis in the next passing car, and arrive home at 6:30 a.m. All four players played – and Adamson stopped 26 shots to post a shutout and Morneau got involved in a fight, in a 3-0 victory over Fort Wayne that afternoon in the Coliseum.

Birthdays
Bernard "Buzz" Deschamps: Left wing for the Chiefs in 1960-61 and briefly the following season. He had 16 goals and 22 assists in his full year with the Chiefs, which came at the start of a seven-year pro career. The highlight was a 57-goal season with the EHL Long Island Ducks in 1963-64. Deschamps spent much of his post-hockey life in coaching and in youth hockey, where he has coached a handful of college teams and youth teams near New York City -- he remained in Long Island after retirement -- most recently with Stony Brook University. He is a member of several Halls of Fame and has a street in his hometown of Penetanguishene, Ont., named for him. A native of Penetanguishene, he is 72.   
Ed Lee: Checkers winger for two games in 1985-86, one of two full pro seasons the Princeton graduate played in North America. That stint also included two NHL games with the Quebec Nordiques the previous season. He headed to Europe after 1986 and posted a 71-goal season in Germany in 1987-88. A native of Mt. Bristol, R.I., he is 50.
Frank Musil: Defenseman who played 52 games for the Ice in 1997-98, toward the end of a 15-year pro career that included 797 NHL games and 140 points (and 1,241 PIMs). With the Ice in 1997-98, Musil had five goals, eight assists and 122 PIMs. That season -- which also included nine games with the Detroit Vipers -- would be the stay-at-home defenseman's only minor-pro stint in North America. The Minnesota North Stars' second-round pick in 1983 and became one of the first players from behind the Iron Curtain to defect to North American to play professionally, doing so in 1986. Musil played for the North Stars, Flames, Senators and Oilers in his career before retiring in 2001. Today, he is a scout with the Edmonton Oilers. He was a member of Czechoslovakia's world championship team in 1985 and currently is an assistant coach for the Czech national hockey team in addition to his duties with the Oilers. A native of Pardubice, Czechoslovkia (now Czech Republic), he is 47.