Fife Flyers add experienced EIHL forward to a roster of new players

The 29-year old returns to the UK’s top flight league for a fifth season after previously icing with Coventry Blaze and Belfast Giants.

Tom Coolen, head coach, hailed him as a ‘top six’ forward, and will be looking to his knowledge of British hockey to help his new recruits find their skates in the opening weeks.

Curran continues the trend of new faces in the Fife squad which, so far, has just three returnees from the 2023-24 campaign - netminder Shane Owen and forwards Lucas Chiodo and Drake Pilon.

Coolen’s new look squad should start to arrive later in August ahead of the puck-dropping exhibition double header with Dundee Stars on the weekend of the 24th-25th. Curran could get an insight into life in Fife in advance as he is a former team mate of Jacob Benson, who iced with Flyers in 2021-22, and defenceman Sean Giles who has departed after one season to sign for DEL2 outfit Eisbären Regensburg in Germany. They were all team mates at Knoxville Ice Bears in the Southern Professional Hockey League during the Covid hit 2020-21 season.

Born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Curran played Junior A hockey with the Aurora Tigers where he was the top scorer during the 2014-15 season. From there he joined the NCAA’s Niagara University Purple Eagles for the next four seasons. He had his first taste of EIHL action when he turned professional in season 2019-20, playing 56 games and scoring 29 points for Coventry Blaze.

He returned to the Blaze post lockdown for the following two seasons topping their scoring during the 20-22-23 season which also saw him selected for Team GB’s World Championship campaign. Last season he departed Slovakian side HK 32 Liptovsky Mikulas during pre-season when Belfast Giants swooped for him following their series of early season injuries. He rejoined Blaze in January 2024 and again played for GB in their World Championship and Olympic Qualification endeavours. In total, Curran has played 250 EIHL games scoring 63 goals and registering 110 assists.

Coolen said, “John gives us a top six type forward who is a proven scorer in the EIHL. He has good size, combined with speed and a dangerous shot”