Curt Fraser
Curtis Martin Fraser ( born January 12, 1958 in Cincinnati, Ohio ) is a retired American- Canadian ice hockey player and since June 2012 assistant coach with the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League.
- 4.1 As a player
- 4.2 International
- 4.3 As a coach
Career as a player
Curt Fraser began his career in 1973 at the Kelowna Buckaroos in the second-class junior league BCJHL before moving in 1974 to the Victoria Cougars in the high-class Canadian junior league WCHL. Even in his debut season in Victoria, he convinced with 17 goals and 32 assists, but was able to significantly increase in the second year again and played the best game of his career in the junior with 43 goals and 64 Assists in 71 games.
From the 1976/77 season he led the Cougars as team captain on the ice, but showed weaker performance compared to the previous season with 75 points scorer in 60 games. But he was a year later to the old form back and scored in his last season with the Cougars 48 goals and prepared 44 more ago. He also won a Canadian junior selection the bronze medal at the Junior World Cup. Fraser, who acted as scorer and his physically hard game in the role as a power forward because of his skills, was chosen after the end of the season in the NHL Amateur Draft in 1978 by the Vancouver Canucks in the second round at position 22.
In the season 1978/79 Fraser made his NHL debut and sat down directly by the Canucks in the squad. After three solid years, he first developed in the 1981/82 season one of the leading players on the team with 67 points scorer in 79 games. In addition, the Canucks reached the final of the Stanley Cup, where they were beaten the New York Islanders subject.
The following season he played half in Vancouver, before he was transferred in January 1983 to the Chicago Blackhawks. In the same year a diabetes was diagnostitiert with him, what did not prevent him from exercising the sport. In the 1983/84 season he also retired to a ligament in the knee, which is why he missed over 50 games. Largely free of injury could Fraser play through the following season and was able to build with 25 goals and 25 templates back to the old services. In the playoffs, the Blackhawks moved in to the finals of the Campbell Conference, but failed later in the Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.
1985/86 Fraser had again extended period of time due to an injury sidelined and was absent in 19 games this season. Nevertheless, he graduated with 68 scorer points, the best season of his career. However, this result could not be repeated in the following year and had 50 points in 75 games. At the Canada Cup 1987, he played for the U.S. National team that occupies the fifth place. After 88 played in the season 1987 /27 games with the Blackhawks, he was transferred in January 1988 to the Minnesota North Stars. However, he came for his new team during the season, only ten times used because he was ill with glandular fever.
In the following season he was missing for a long time due to injuries and only came on 35 missions and ten points scorer. After Fraser had suffered at the beginning of the 1989/90 season a shoulder injury that had to be treated surgically and he suffered from back problems for a long time, he finished his career.
Career as a coach
In the fall of 1990, Fraser returned as assistant coach of the Milwaukee Admirals of the IHL into hockey business and worked the next two years under Mike Murphy and Jack McIlhargey before he became head coach of the team in 1992. In Fraser, the Admirals established among the best teams in the league, but never got past the first round of the playoffs also. In summer 1994, he moved to the AHL to the Syracuse Crunch, where he again took up his post as assistant coach Jack McIlhargey.
After only a year he returned to the IHL and became coach of the newly formed Orlando Solar Bears. With 52 wins in 82 games, the Solar Bears were equal in their first year, the third- best team in the regular season and failed in the playoffs until the finals. The following year, they were able to increase the result of the season by as much as another victory. In the 1997/98 season they were in the regular season weaker than in previous years, but moved to the semifinals of the playoffs one. A year later, reached for the second time in its four year history, the final, but again they failed.
Fraser then left the Solar Bears and was named coach of the Atlanta Thrashers, who stood before their first NHL season. The debut season 1999/2000 was expected to be poor, and the Thrashers occupied with only 14 wins from 82 games clearly defeated the last place in the league. In the second season they were able to increase slightly and left with the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders two teams behind them. However, in the 2001/ 02 season were the Thrashers, who were now reinforced by the young stars Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk, again on the last rank. As well as the following season there was no improvement in sight and the Thrashers were denied victory only eight of 33 games, Fraser was released on 26 December 2002.
For the season 2003/ 04 he committed the New York Islanders as an assistant coach Steve Stirling, where he was active because of the lockout until the failure of the 2004/05 season. 2005 Fraser went to the St. Louis Blues and assisted there for a year Mike Kitchen.
After that Fraser was in 2006 Successor of Glen Hanlon as coach of the Belarusian national team in the summer. At the World Cup in 2007 the national team could celebrate just one win in six games, finishing in eleventh place in the tournament. The result could be improved somewhat in 2008, when they finished ninth and thus qualified for the 2010 Winter Olympics at the Ice Hockey World Championship for Men. In addition, they achieved notable successes as they in the games could be defeated only in the penalty shootout in the second round against the favored teams from Russia and the Czech Republic.
After the second tournament as coach of Belarus Fraser returned to North America, where he was head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the play as a farm team of the Detroit Red Wings in the AHL. In June 2012, Fraser left the team as to date the most successful head coach of the franchise history of the Grand Rapids Griffins and was engaged as assistant coach of the Dallas Stars.
Awards and achievements
As a player
Career Stats
As a player
Internationally
Represented Canada at:
- Junior World Cup 1978
Represented the U.S. at:
- Canada Cup 1987
( Key to Career statistics: Sp or GP = Games Played, T or G = goals scored, V or A = achieved assists; Pts or Pts = scored points scorer, SM or PIM = received penalty minutes, / - = Plus / Minus balance sheet; PP = scored majority gates; SH = scored shorthanded goals, GW = achieved victory gates; Play-downs/Relegation 1 )