This date in Indianapolis hockey history: April 14

April 14 in Indianapolis hockey history
2012: Ice goaltender Jon Gillies is credited with a goal in a 6-3 victory over Des Moines in the Ice's first-ever home game played at the University of Notre Dame. Gillies was the last Ice player to touch the puck before the Buccaneers misfired on a pass that ended up in an empty net. Daniil Tarasov closes out a 47-goal regular season with a goal and an assist.
2011: The Ice open the playoffs with a 4-0 shutout of Waterloo. Casey DeSmith made 38 saves for the shutout. Dan Cesarz,  Brian Ferlin and David Johnstone scored second-period goals and Blake Coleman added a third-period power play goal. Daniil Tarasov had two assists.
2010: The Ice complete a rally from two games down to beat the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders 3-2 in both the game and the series. Anthony Bitetto's unassisted goal at 4:09 of OT vaults the Ice into the next round.  Brian Ferlin and Jacob Fallon staked the Ice to a 2-0 second-period lead, but Cedar Rapids tied the game with 5:08 left in regulation. Casey DeSmith made 37 saves for his third straight win. Ferlin (G, A) and Alex Wideman (2A) had multi-point games. It marked the second straight year the Ice had eliminated Cedar Rapids in a fifth game on the road.
2007: Eric Kattelus scores twice and assists on another goal, and John Kemp adds a goal and two assists as the Ice beat the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets 7-2 to close out the season at the Coliseum. Cody Reichard makes 27 saves for the win.
2000: The Ice open the CHL semifinal series against Oklahoma City with a 3-1 victory, backstopped by a fine performance by Jamie Morris. Yvan Corin scores the game-winner.
1990: The Ice rout Peoria 7-1 to take a 2-1 lead in their IHL division semifinal series. Jim Waite gets the win in net and Bob Bassen tallies the game-winner. 
1984: The Checkers take a 3-2 edge in their first-round series against Colorado, winning 6-5 on Kevin Devine's goal 8:58 into overtime. The Checkers stormed back from a 5-2 deficit in the third, with Red Laurence, Roger Kortko and Monty Trottier scoring in the final period, the latter coming on the power play with 1:34 left. Laurence had two goals in the game. Todd Lumbard stopped 17 shots in relief to get the win.
1977: The Racers take a commanding 3-0 lead in their first-round series against Cincinnati, winning 5-3 at Market Square Arena. Brian McDonald scores a shorthanded goal to break a tie at 7:10 of the third, assisted by Nick Harbaruk and goaltender Paul Hoganson. Blair MacDonald adds an insurance goal with seven minutes left to net the hat trick. The McDonald/MacDonald combo scores all five goals.

Happy birthday to ... 
Mark Lomenda: Right wing who played 58 games for the Racers -- all but two in the 1976-77 season. He also played two games the prior year. He had nine goals and 21 assists. His claim to fame is assisting on Gene Peacosh's 3OT goal that ended the longest game in WHA history, as the Racers beat Cincinnati 4-3 in the opening game of the 1977 playoffs. Lomenda played 164 WHA games from 1974-77, with 31 goals and 61 assists. He retired after 1979. A native of Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, he is 60. 
Richard Adolfi: Right wing who played 21 games for the Checkers in 1985-86, shortly after turning professional. He had two goals and two assists with the Checkers, and played three full minor pro seasons, all in the IHL. A native of Rome, NY, he is 49.
Dave Allison: Defenseman who finished his 10-year pro hockey career with the Ice in 1988-89, tallying seven assists and 105 PIMs in 34 games. He played in the AHL & IHL for his entire career, and played three NHL games with Montreal in 1983-84. He was a player-assistant coach for the Ice. and became a head coach the year after in the ECHL, and has had a long coaching career since, including a 22-game NHL stint with the Ottawa Senators in 1995-96. He is currently an assistant with the AHL Chicago Wolves. A native of Fort Frances, Ontario, he is 55.
Lonnie Loach: Remembered primarily for his exploits with the Fort Wayne Komets - especially in ending the Ice's stellar 1990-91 season in the playoffs (a year in which he was the IHL's leading scorer with 131 points) - Loach played three games for the Ice in 1989-90. He spent nearly all of his 16-year professional career in the IHL, playing for Saginaw, Flint, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Phoenix, San Diego, Detroit, San Antonio, Long Beach, Kansas City and Chicago alone in the IHL. He also played for two AHL teams and parts of two seasons in Europe. He played 56 NHL games between 1992-94, playing 50 for the Los Angeles Kings in 1992-93 on a team that went to the Stanley Cup Final. He also played three games each for Ottawa and Anaheim. He finished his career in 2005-06 playing in the UHL for Missouri. A native of New Liskeard, Ontario, he is 46.
Brett Peterson: Forward who played 56 games for the Ice in 2006-07. He had 12 points and 78 PIMs in that stint, before playing two collegiate seasons at Minnesota State-Mankato. A native of Elk River, Minnesota, he is 26. 

Today in history: April 21

A not-so-good memory on Today in History, and some good guys' birthdays.

1991: One of the most memorable playoff series in Indianapolis hockey history ends on a sour note, as the Fort Wayne Komets upset the Ice 4-3 in overtime, winning a close seven-game series 4-3. Brian Noonan's two third-period goals rallied the Ice back from a two-goal deficit and sent the game into OT. From there, Stephane Beauregard and the Ice's Jim Waite turned aside shot after shot, but Lonnie Loach ended the game with his second goal of the night 1:31 left in overtime. It was an amazing, back-and-forth series, but still, the mention of Loach's name causes an Ice fan's heart to flutter. It started and ended with OT games at the Coliseum. Five of the seven games were decided by one goal, a sixth by two goals. The Komets would advance from there to the Turner Cup Finals, where they lost to Peoria.

Birthdays

Reg Thomas: Member of the Racers from 1975-78, playing 208 games in the red, white and blue. A crowd favorite, he tallied 53 goals in those games and was one of the team's leaders in its heyday. He had seven goals in the 1977 postseason, which featured a sweep of the Cincinnati Stingers. Thomas' playing career also had spans with the Los Angeles Sharks, Michigan Stags, Baltimore Blades and Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA and the Quebec Nordiques in the NHL. All told, he played 467 games at the big-league level, totaling 128-145-273. Thomas returned to Indianapolis and coached the original Ice team in 1988-89 after Archie Henderson had to step down at mid-season. He led the team to an 8-17-1 record. He joins Bruce Cassidy, Charlie Skjodt, Pat Stapleton and player/coaches Ron Handy, Leo Lamoureux, John Sorrell, Herb Lewis and Ott Heller as men who both played and coached Indianapolis hockey teams. A native of London, Ontario, he is 58. 

Ron Ullyot: Coached the Checkers in their final two IHL seasons, from 1985-87. Led the team to a 78-73-14 record in those years and took them to the postseason twice. He had a long career on the other end of I-69 before coming to Indy, playing seven years and coaching four with the Fort Wayne Komets. Interestingly, Ullyot coached in both the Checkers' first and final postseason games -- he led the Fort Worth Texans when they faced (and beat) the Checkers in the 1980 CHL playoffs, and obviously coached the team in its final two seasons. A native of Saskatoon, he is 65.  

Ken Boone: An enforcer who racked up some unfathomable penalty minute totals in three seasons with the CHL Ice. He was a member of the Ice's 2000 Miron Cup championship squad. He scored 24 goals in 140 games with the team from 1999-01 and again in their final CHL season of 2003-04, but also put up 346 PIMs in 70 games in his first year, then followed it up with a 315 PIM season the next year -- in just 42 games. He also scored 13 goals that season. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Boone is 35 and, like many former CHL Ice players, resides in Indianapolis.  
Brandon Christian: Winger who played 10 games, scored a goal and totaled 116 PIMs in the 2000-01 season with the CHL Ice. After taking a couple years out of hockey, he has played the last seven seasons in a Quebec senior league. He hails from Burlington, Ontario, and is 39 today.