Career
Tripp was originally drafted by the Colorado Avalanche in the third round, 77th overall, in the 1995 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He re-entered the draft two years later and was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the second round, 42nd overall. Despite being drafted by two different teams, both times fairly high in the draft selection, he would not see National Hockey League level playing time until the 2002-2003 season when he played nine games for the New York Rangers.
The next season, 2003-2004, Tripp played 34 games for the Los Angeles Kings.
In 2004, during the National Hockey League lockout, Tripp moved to the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany for Adler Mannheim. In 2006, he moved to European Research Council Ingolstadt before moving to Hamburg in 2007.
In this time Tripp was able to obtain German citizenship and represent Germany internationally. After three seasons with the Freezers, Tripp left and signed an initial try-out contract with fellow German based club, the Hannover Scorpions on September 22, 2010.
After three weeks John was released by the Scorpions but immediately signed a one-year contract for the remainder of the 2010-2011 season with Kölner Haie on October 19, 2010.
He then remained with the Haie team through the 2014-2015 season, serving as team captain between 2011 and 2015. Tripp played 11 seasons in the top flight DEL, before signing a one-year contract with second tier based, ETC Crimmitschau of the DEL2 on September 8, 2015. He played in the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver and six World Championships, helping Germany to a semifinal appearance in 2010, the team"s greatest success since winning bronze at the 1976 Olympics.
