Danny Brown: a lifetime of memories and friendships with Fife Flyers

He was one third of the Plumb Line which spearheaded the club to the 1985 British championship triumph at Wembley, and, perhaps more significantly, re-ignited a passion for the sport which spanned a generation.

Forty years on Danny, his line-mate Dave Stoyanovich and player-coach Ron Plumb will be reunited on stage with the Fife players who came together to create one of the greatest teams in the club’s nine decades.

They are all flying in specially for the live show at Rothes Halls, Glenrothes, on Friday, May 2, and the launch of a special exhibition of memorabilia at Kirkcaldy Galleries that weekend. A sportsmen’s lunch is also scheduled as part of the celebrations which will see all proceeds given to CHAS - Flyers’ adopted chastity - and Maggie’s Cancer Care Centre in Kirkcaldy.

At the heart of the show will be the players’ memories and stories from behind the scenes - underlining the bond that unites them to this day.

“It is great to come back and celebrate our championship win, and also meet all our friends,” he said. “It was such a special time - and special for the community.

“You’ll relive those times and get some inside scoops on what was going on, and also really get a feel for the joy, friendship and happiness during that season. Winning breeds that, but it wasn’t just the team - we fed off the community and how they reacted.”

Brown’s journey from the University of Western Ontario to Kirkcaldy came via the now fabled training camp Flyers staged in Toronto in the summer of 1984.

After an underwhelming season playing second fiddle to the all conquering Dundee Rockets, the club dispatched rink manager Jack Dryburgh and team manager John Haig to Canada to find the players to re-ignite the sport in the Lang Toun. They ran the rule over numerous players across two days, settling on the trio who would become legends.

The call that took him to the camp changed everything.

“I had just graduated from university and was pretty much done with the game,” he recalled. “I’d got my resume done and started job hunting.

“I went for a skate with lots of players, skated twice and got offered a position. I didn’t have an agent so I asked my future father in law to come along!”

Plumb and Stoyanovich were also picked from the camp, but their paths didn’t actually cross until they landed in Scotland with an immediate journey north to Aviemore for another training camp just 24 hours after he got married. Then it was straight into competitive action.

“I guess I could have played in North America at a lower level but the opportunity to go and live and play in different country appeal.

“The first couple of games went well. Ron, Dave and I had chemistry right away, and the Fife guys were superb. They made us welcome from the get go, and everyone raised their game as we all clicked. We started winning and crowds went from 1500 to full houses. We’d ask Jack ‘how many are in tonight?...’

One of the key factors behind hockey’s revival in ‘;85 was the bond between the team and the fans. The players had a roadshow of PR visits and school and community talks, and full houses became the norm - even on days when the cameras from BBC’s Grandstand screened the match live with a lunch time face-off.

“The fans and community really embraced this team and the sport,” Danny recalled. “They had passion for it. I’d never played pro, and at uni you got maybe 300 folk watching, mainly family and friends. To come here and see this rink full was a great. We had a blast.

“It was great meeting fans and hearing about the history of the place, and road trips were special. The old Nottingham rink was probably my favourite, Ayr was just unbelievable, while at Durham I remember they’d loosen the nets when we were shooting at them - and then tighten them for their team when we turned round!

A Bluecol Cup final appearance was a taste of things to come, while Flyers finished runners-up in the Premier League, before all eyes turned to the finals at Wembley - the sport’s spiritual home.

A seven-goal first period blitz put them on the road to a stunning victory over Murrayfield Racers, and sent this team into the history books.

Danny returned with Plumb for what was to be his final year playing pro.

“I was coming for one year and then heading home to start a job, but I got a call and agreed to come back, but needed to do something else so I ran the ran the Centre Ice sports shop in the rink - and I recruited Todd Bidner!

“We kept most of the team, burn expectations were higher in the second season. It was harder as teams know us better and knew how to defend against us, but we still had a lot of fun.”

Those two seasons left Danny as Flyers’ ninth highest scorer of all-time, and with friendships which have spanned the decades and many visits across the Atlantic.

“Every time we get together for a few beers, the stories from Flyers’ trips always come out.”

Those stories - and more - will be retold one more time - this time on stage in front of a live audience. It promises to be a special night for ice hockey fans past and present.