from Michael Russo of the Star Tribune,

John Curry knew Zach Parise before he was an NHL star and U.S. Olympic captain.

“We played together three years for the Minnesota Blades, plus I remember playing against him in squirts when he was with Bloomington and I was with Minnetonka,” said Curry, 30, a Shorewood native and seventh goaltender to dress for the Wild this season. “You never know for sure when you’re young, but everyone knew back then that he would be one of the best players of our age group.”

Parise laughed last year when Curry, a familiar face from his past, joined the Wild organization on a minor league deal. That contract was turned into an NHL deal in February just in case the Wild ran into injury problems. Of course, the team has with Josh Harding, Niklas Backstrom and Darcy Kuemper on the shelf.

“Twenty years ago, he was a stand-up goalie,” Parise said. “But he was good. He was really good.”

Said the 5-11 Curry, who was a huge North Stars and Jon Casey fan as a kid, “I was a weird style goalie for sure. I’ve always had probably a little different style. When I grew up, they were still teaching skate saves, so there was no butterfly theory yet.”

continued

thanks to a KK member for the pointer