They’ve been calling Mike Curran “Lefty” for as long as anyone can remember.

Goaltender. Southpaw. Supersonic blur for a glove hand.

The name fits.

Curran grew up in International Falls, where former goaltender Larry Ross was the iconic coach of the high school program. The Broncos were begining their climb to prominence in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, and Curran was one of the first in a long line of Ross-produced superstar goalies to emerge from the Canadian border town.

The talent-rich environment fit, too.

As a kid, some of Curran’s favorite road trips were to Eveleth, the state’s original goaltender factory before International Falls claimed the throne. Curran remembers looking in awe at the framed, poster-sized photos of former Eveleth goaltenders who had gone on to Olympic and NHL fame hanging in the Hippodrome.

“I would just stare at those pictures and say, ‘I want to be like that,’ ” Curran said. “That’s what helped you become a better player.”

Curran always had an appreciation for great goaltenders, especially the ones from Minnesota. The 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, Calif., poured jet fuel on Curran’s competitive flame, as he watched goaltender Jack McCartan of St. Paul lead the underdog U.S. team’s amazing run to the gold medal.

“He was the goalie that I wanted to be because of my age when the ’60 team won the Olympics and all of that,” said Curran, a 1962 International Falls graduate. “I made a paper mache doll in art class of Jack McCartan with his number on it.

“When I told him that, he looked at me and was astounded. I told him, ‘You were my hero, you were my Jacques Plant, you were my Terry Sawchuk.’ ”

Two years after the 1960 U.S. team’s original “Miracle on Ice,” Curran performed a dead-on McCartan impersonation at the state tournament.

The Broncos had two dynamic forward lines but were dangerously thin on defense. Against top teams, Curran knew he was going to face an avalanche of rubber. Daily practice sessions with teammates Keith “Huffer” Christiansen and Jim Amidon, easily two of the state’s best forwards, had Curran conditioned to deal with top-flight shooters.

“He was the best goalie in the state at that time, no doubt about it,” Christiansen said. “He was kind of a flopper. He was really quick with the hands and he played the angles real well.

“He was tough to beat on the breakaway, I’ll tell you that.”

In three games at the 1962 state tournament, Curran faced 82 shots and allowed two goals for a sparkling .976 save percentage.

Curran shut out Richfield in the quarterfinals and blanked Roseau in the championship. The Broncos won both games by a score of 4-0. International Falls’ toughest game came in the semifinals, when it slipped past Greenway 3-2 on the strength of Curran’s 31-save performance.

Less than a week before, Curran had been knocked cold in the Section 7 championship game against Greenway. A slapshot had emerged from a screen too late for Curran to react, and the puck hit him squarely in the jaw. Goalies did not wear helmets or facemasks at the time.

“I remember him laying on the ice and his legs were fluttering and you could tell he was totally out,” said Tony Curran, lefty’s younger brother. “The next week they went down to the state tournament and he played the way he normally did, which was great.”

Curran reached two NCAA title games at North Dakota and was named the MVP of the U.S. Olympic team that won the silver medal at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan.

Curran played five seasons for the Minnesota Fighting Saints, where he was a teammate of boyhood idol McCartan. He retired from pro hockey in 1977 and lives in the Twin Cities.

-- Loren Nelson, MN Hockey Hub editor