The No. 19 spot on our Chicago Wolves Top 40 Countdown, presented by Jewel-Osco, belongs to a man who ranks among the franchise’s greatest goal-scorers on a per-game basis.
After the Wolves’ inaugural season ended in a first-round playoff sweep, the team’s braintrust figured Year 2 could use some more scoring punch: Enter powerful 27-year-old forward Dan Currie.
Currie didn’t tally his first goal for the Wolves until his sixth game. But once he started, he didn’t stop. During December, Currie played in 10 games and racked up 12 goals and 7 assists. That included the first four-goal effort in Wolves history when he lit up the Los Angeles Ice Dogs for four in a 7-6 shootout win on Dec. 29. Just to prove that wasn’t a fluke, Currie posted four more goals on March 24, 1996, during a 10-3 win over the Kansas City Blades.
Currie piled up 39 goals in 79 regular-season games in 1995-96, then added five goals in nine postseason games as the Wolves won their first playoff series.
The Burlington, Ontario, native returned to Chicago for the 1996-97 season and scored on Opening Night. He posted 18 goals in 55 games before getting swapped to the Fort Wayne Komets for forward Brian Farrell in late February.
Currie finished his Wolves tenure with 57 goals and 44 assists in 134 regular-season games. He continued to pile up goals wherever he played — including 20 goals in 28 games for the Dundas Real McCoys in his final full season (2004-05).
Want to enjoy more of the countdown?
No. 40: Gage Quinney
No. 39: Tim Breslin
No. 38: Nathan Oystrick
No. 37: Ben Simon
No. 36: Curtis McKenzie
No. 35: Kamil Piros
No. 34: Mark Mancari
No. 33: Simon Gamache
No. 32: Guy Larose
No. 31: Wade Megan
No. 30: Shane Harper
No. 29: Michael Davies
No. 28: Karl Stewart
No. 27: Cory Larose
No. 26: Pat Cannone
No. 25: Brian Wiseman
No. 24: Colin Stuart
No. 23: Brian Noonan
No. 22: Tim Bergland
No. 21: Joey Crabb
No. 20: Jordan Lavallee-Smotherman
