In addition to a draft retrospective, there are three birthdays today: former Checkers Red Laurence (57) and Sean Toomey (49) and late former Capital Lou Jankowski.
June 27 in Indianapolis hockey history
2009: The NHL Entry Draft concludes in Montreal with two Ice players being picked in the seventh round. Nic Dowd, who would play for the Ice in 2009-10, is picked by Los Angeles. With the next pick, Mike Cichy, who finished the 2008-09 season with the Ice and was the Clark Cup Playoffs MVP, is picked by Montreal.
Happy birthday to ...
Lou Jankowski: Forward who had 18 goals and 18 assists for the Capitals in 51 games as a rookie in 1951-52. He suffered a serious skull fracture during his time with the Capitals, but continued to have a stellar career. He spent the majority of his 19-year pro career in the minors -- primarily in the Western Hockey League -- but did play 130 NHL games -- one for the Red Wings in 1951 after his junior career completed, 22 in the 1952-53 season, and the rest for the Blackhawks from 1953-55. He had 19 goals and 18 assists in the NHL. He was a prolific minor-league scorer, tallying 30 goals seven times and 40 goals five times. He retired after the 1968-69 season and became a scout for the Blues, Capitals, Rangers and NHL Central Scouting Bureau. He was born in 1931 in Regina, Sask. and raised in Hamilton, Ontario. He passed away in 2010 at age 78. His grandson, Mark Jankowski, is a Calgary Flames prospect and was their first-round pick in 2012.
Red Laurence: High-scoring forward for the Checkers from 1981-84. He tallied three consecutive 40-goal seasons to lead the team, with identical 43-goal, 98-point seasons in the championship years of 1981-82 and 1982-83, and a 41-goal, 37-assist season in 1983-84. In total, he had 127 goals and 147 assists in 226 games with the Checkers. He ranks 10th all-time among Indianapolis hockey players in goals scored, 13th in assists and 12th in points. He is one of only two players (Pierre Brillant being the other) to tally three 40-goal seasons for an Indianapolis hockey team. Drafted in the second round of the 1977 NHL Draft by Atlanta and in the fourth round of that year's WHA Draft by Winnipeg, Laurence played 79 games in the NHL for the Atlanta Flames and St. Louis Blues from 1978-80, but found a home in the CHL. He joined Salt Lake at the end of the 1979-80 season and scored the Adams Cup-winning goal. He won the trophy again with the Golden Eagles the following year, and led the Checkers to titles in 1982 and 1983, and an Adams Cup Final appearance in 1984. He had 30 goals and 20 assists in 36 playoff games with the Checkers. After his three years in Indy, he played in Europe through the 1991 season. A native of Galt, Ont., he is 57.
Sean Toomey: Checkers center who played 13 games for the team in 1986-87 after completing his four-year career at Minnesota-Duluth. He was the North Stars' seventh-round pick in 1983, and played one game in Minnesota and 13 in Indy that spring. He had three goals and three assists for the Checkers, and had four points in five playoff games that year. He also played one more year in the AHL/IHL -- tallying 27 goals -- and then one year in Finland. A native of St. Paul, Minn. -- where he currently lives and works -- he is 49.
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