This date in Indianapolis hockey history: April 6

April 6 in Indianapolis hockey history
1991: Dan Vincelette has a hat trick, with Martin Desjardins assisting on three goals as the Ice beat Phoenix 6-5 in a shootout. Sean Williams scores the shootout goal. Vincelette scored a shorthanded goal with 3:25 left to get the Ice back in it, and Brian Noonan's 37th goal tied it up with 41 seconds left.
1982: The Checkers opened their first Adams Cup championship run with a 7-0 whitewashing of the Tulsa Oilers at the Coliseum. Kelly Davis scored twice. Dave Simpson had two assists. Kelly Hrudey made 37 saves. 
1976: The Racers are idle, but clinch the WHA's Eastern Division title when the Cleveland Crusaders fall to the San Diego Mariners. Two days earlier, a 4-2 Racers victory put the team in first place. The Racers finished the regular season 12-4-4. 
1975: The Racers' first season ends with a 4-3 loss at Vancouver. The Racers finish 18-57-3.

Happy birthday to ... 
Darryl Maggs: Defenseman who played 167 games for the Racers from 1975-78. He joined the team midway through the 1975-76 season and had 21 points as the Racers won their first division title. His best season came the following year, when he had 16 goals and 55 assists to lead the Racers into the playoffs again. He had 27 goals and 86 assists in his Racers career, as well as two goals and four assists in 16 playoff games. Maggs played nine years of major pro hockey from 1971-80, with Chicago, California and Toronto in the NHL, and Chicago, Indianapolis, Denver and Cincinnati in the WHA. He played 537 NHL/WHA games, with 66 goals and 196 assists. A native of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, he is 67. In retirement, he has settled in Colorado Springs.
Trevor Halverson: Left wing who played 12 games for the Ice -- and five playoff games -- in 1995-96. He had one assist in that span. Halverson played parts of eight seasons professionally, including 17 games with the Washington Capitals in 1998-99, his final year. He was the Caps' first-round pick in 1991. A native of White River, Ontario, he is 43.
Ryan Risidore: Defenseman who played 75 games for the Ice in 1997-98, with three goals, eight assists and 123 PIMs. He also had an assist in four playoff games. It was the second of eight pro seasons for Risidore, who also played in the AHL, ECHL and in Britain. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, he is 38.
Alex Gacek: Forward who played seven games for the Ice in 2010-11 before being dealt to Youngstown. He played two years in the USHL, with 13 goals and 39 points, and recently completed his sophomore season at Miami University, where he has posted a 3-4-7 line in each of his two years. A native of Dracut, Mass., he is 21.

This date in Indianapolis hockey history: April 3

On April 3 in Indianapolis hockey history

1996: Ravil Gusmanov posts a five-point night, tallying two goals and three assists in a 6-2 Ice win over Detroit at MSA. Sergei Klimovich has a goal and two assists, Kip Miller adds two assists.
1991: Dan Vincelette and Trevor Dam score 26 seconds apart in the second period, helping lift the Ice to a 5-4 win over Fort Wayne. The two goals made it a 4-2 contest. After the Komets tie it, Owen Lessard scores with 2:32 left in the second to give the Ice the win.
1981: Rob Holland and Salt Lake's Rick Heinz post a goaltending dual, but Heinz wins it and blanks the Checkers 2-0 in Salt Lake City. A name that would become familiar to Indy fans -- Red Laurence -- scores the game-winner for the Golden Eagles. A year later, Holland would again lose a 2-0 decision in Salt Lake. 
1980: Richard Brodeur posts his fourth shutout of the regular season -- and the Checkers' sixth -- in a 5-0 blanking of the Dallas Black Hawks. Brodeur and Jim Park would share the CHL's Terry Sawchuk Trophy as the top goaltenders in the league. Garth MacGuigan scores the game-winner.
1976: Market Square Arena registers its first sellout, as the Racers fall to the New England Whalers 5-2 in the regular season home finale.

Happy birthday to 
Bob Lakso: Member of the Indianapolis Checkers throughout their three years in the IHL, and would rejoin the Ice in their inaugural year of 1988-89. In those four seasons, he played 295 games, tallying 144 goals and 156 assists. He had a 40-goal season in 1985-86 (41-35-76), and a 94-point season in 1986-87 (39 goals, 55 assists). He had at least 26 goals in each of his four seasons in Indianapolis. He would leave Indy and play four years with the Fort Wayne Komets, posting a career-best 100-point season in 1989-90 in Fort Wayne. A native of Aurora, Minnesota, Bob is 52.
Aaron Smith: Played four games with the Ice in the CHL in 2003-04, picking up two penalty minutes. It was the first of two years he would play professionally, with five teams in the CHL and ECHL. In 61 games, he scored three goals and added 10 assists. A native of Madison, Wisconsin, he is 35.

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.