Pack the House Night a rousing success

Hosting their 12th annual "Pack the House" night for charity, and their second such event in the USHL, the Ice delivered a memorable night both on and off the ice in front of the second largest crowd to attend a USHL game. Even though the Ice fell 45 persons short of eclipsing their record-setting mark of 14,892 last year, most importantly, the team raised $25,615 for three local charities: St. Vincent Children's Hospital, Muscular Dystrophy Family Foundation, and the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation.

As for the game, 14,847 "Hoosiers" witnessed a seesaw battle between the Ice and first-place Des Moines Buccaneers that eventually was settled in overtime. With two minutes left in the extra period, the stars shone for the Ice as defenseman Eddie Del Grosso found forward Garrett Roe for the game-winner and 5-4 win that sent the energetic crowd into the cold Indiana night with a victory and a sense of self-satisfaction for being part of a special event.

Before the teams took to the ice, the Ice remembered 15-year-old Abby Beckman, who passed away in May from bone cancer after designing last year's "Pack the House" jersey that the Ice donned against Sioux City. Abby's mother, Staci Hanselman, was on hand to receive a commemorative Ice jersey from last year's game that will be donated today to St. Vincent Hospital's Radiation Department.

In addition to the Abby Beckman ceremony, five children representing the three "Pack the House" groups took part in a ceremonial puck drop. Roe, one of many heroes of the night, summarized the evening best, "We told those kids that we were going to win one for them. Thank God we did."

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