Mike Curran

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United StatesUnited States  Mike Curran Ice hockey player
IIHF Hall of Fame , 1999
Date of birth April 14, 1944
place of birth International Falls , Minnesota , USA
Nickname Lefty
size 180 cm
Weight 79 kg
position goalkeeper
Catch hand Left
Career stations
1962-1965 Green Bay Bobcats
1965-1968 University of North Dakota
1968-1970 Green Bay Bobcats
1970-1972 US National Team
1972-1977 Minnesota Fighting Saints

Michael Vincent Curran (born April 14, 1944 in International Falls , Minnesota ) is a retired American ice hockey goalkeeper . He is considered one of the most successful American goalkeepers who never played in the National Hockey League . He represented the national team of his home country at a total of seven international tournaments and won the silver medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics .

Career

Mike Curran played at the beginning of the 1960s in his hometown International Falls high school on the position of goalkeeper for the International Falls Broncos , with which he won the high school championship of the state of Minnesota several times . In 1961 he set a record that still exists today with an average goal against 0.78. From 1962 Curran played for the Green Bay Bobcats from the United States Hockey League under player- coach John Mayasich . After spending three seasons there, the American began studying at the University of North Dakota and went on the ice for their ice hockey team, the North Dakota Fighting Sioux , in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association . Curran led the team to the National Collegiate Athletic Association final twice . In 1967 the team lost the game against Cornell University to later NHL star Ken Dryden and a year later the team was defeated by the University of Denver team . The goalkeeper spent the following two seasons again with the Green Bay Bobcats from the USHL. During this time he was appointed to the squad of the US national team for the first time and represented them for the first time at the 1969 World Cup .

In 1972, Curran received his first professional contract with the Minnesota Fighting Saints from the World Hockey Association . In his debut season, the 1972/73 season , he was a regular goalkeeper and guarded the goal of the Fighting Saints in 44 games of the regular season. He got four shutouts . The following season he formed a goalkeeping duo with John Garrett and both played 40 WHA games in the regular season, with Curran achieving a catch rate of around 91 percent. In the following two seasons Garrett finally prevailed as a regular goalkeeper and Curran was temporarily only the third goalkeeper in the squad of the Minnesota Fighting Saints. During the 1975/76 season he was also on the ice in nine games for the Johnstown Jets in the North American Hockey League . Furthermore, the American received in the course of the 1976/77 season match practice with the Rochester Americans from the American Hockey League , before he was again appointed to the WHA squad of the Fighting Saints. In these he was last second goalkeeper behind Louis Levasseur and completed 16 more games before he ended his playing career in 1977.

International

For the United States , Curran took part in the 1969 , 1970 , 1971 , 1976 and 1977 World Championships , the 1972 Winter Olympics and the 1976 Canada Cup . With seven appearances in international tournaments, he is the most successful goalkeeper in his home country and only John Mayasich, who represented the USA a total of nine times, was more successful. The highlight of his international career was winning the silver medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics. In the second game of the final round against Czechoslovakia , he parried 51 shots and the USA won 5-1. Curran was named the USA's Most Valuable Player after the tournament was over . At the Canada Cup 1976 he formed the goalkeeping duo with Pete LoPresti . The USA finished the tournament in fifth place and Curran guarded the goal of his home country in three games.

After the end of his career, Curran's achievements were recognized accordingly and the American was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1998 and the IIHF Hall of Fame a year later .

Achievements and Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Curran, Mike
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Curran, Michael Vincent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American ice hockey goalkeeper
DATE OF BIRTH April 14, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH International Falls , Minnesota