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Inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1994. Born October 26th,
1955 Michael “Mick” Curry was to become one of Britain’s leading
on-ice officials before being tragically killed in a car accident in
March 1993. Mick Curry started out
in ice hockey, playing through the junior team system in Durham,
eventually breaking into the Wasps line-up at the age of twenty. The
most complete statistical record show him as having tallied 31 points
from 13 goals and 18 assists, as well as 96 penalty minutes in 69 senior
games. His playing career was interrupted by an eye injury, which
sidelined him for the better part of two seasons between 1980 and 1982,
and he retired from playing just five games into the 1982/83 season. Not wanting to quit the
sport entirely, Mick turned his hand to officiating in the newly formed
Heineken British League, first as a linesman and then as a referee. In
all, he officiated in 234 Premier Division games, 166 of which were as
the referee with 68 as a linesman. His assignments included seven
Wembley Championships, beginning as a linesman in 1985. He refereed one
of the semi-finals in each of the years 1990, 1991 and 1992 and had
already been tipped to handle the 1993 Championship Final. Mick’s international
career began in 1990 with the World Junior Championship Pool C in
Eindhoven, Holland and six months later, he was appointed to a European
Cup quarterfinal group in Rouen, France. In 1992, he moved up to the
World Championship Pool B in Austria and in the November, he was in
Milan, Italy for the European Cup semi-finals. As 1992 drew to an end,
he handled some of the top games in the World Junior Championships Pool
A staged in Sweden. Tragically, on March 7th,
1993, while returning home to Co. Durham, with linesman Sean Byrne,
after officiating a game in Peterborough, their car was involved in a
head-on collision on the A1 with a car travelling in the wrong
direction. Michael “Mick” Curry was killed and British ice hockey
lost one its most promising and popular on-ice officials. There is little doubt
that had he lived, Mick Curry would have refereed at the 1994 World
Championships in Italy. His influence was not merely confined to those
games in which he actively participated – his help and encouragement
were greatly appreciated by numerous up and coming linesmen and referees
whom he assisted at seminars and training camps. In recognition of Mick Curry’s contribution to British ice hockey, the BIHA instituted an annual award in his name, for the most improved young official. Compiled
with research, provided by
Martin C.Harris – April
1994. |
