Curtis Joseph

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Position Goaltender
Catches Left
Nickname Cujo
Height
Weight		 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)
188 lb (85 kg)
NHL Team
F. Teams		 Phoenix Coyotes
St. Louis Blues
Edmonton Oilers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born April 29, 1967,
Keswick, Ontario, ON, CAN
Pro Career 1989 – present

Curtis Shayne Joseph (born April 29, 1967 in Keswick, Ontario, Canada), is a Canadian ice hockey goaltender who currently plays for the Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Joseph is nicknamed "Cujo" and has worn the number 31 for the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and Phoenix Coyotes. A three time NHL All-Star (1993-94, 1998-99, 1999-00), he was awarded the 1999-00 King Clancy Memorial Trophy for exemplifying leadership qualities on and off the ice and making noteworthy humanitarian contributions to his community.

[edit] Early years

Joseph was born to unwed teenage parents. Five days after his birth, his mother, Wendy Munro, gave him up for adoption to Jeanne Joseph, a nurse who had befriended her during her hospital stay. Jeanne and her husband decided to name the baby Curtis after his father, Curtis Nickle. Curtis grew up with an older brother Grant and a stepbrother Victor. The family was of mixed race with Jeanne and Victor being black and Curtis and Grant, white. It wasn't until he signed with the Blues that Joseph legally changed his name from Curtis Shayne Munro to Curtis Shayne Joseph.

Although Joseph led his high school team, Notre Dame Prep (Wilcox, Saskatchewan) to the Centennial Cup and then played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison of the NCAA, he went undrafted. He signed as a free agent with the Blues in 1989. In 1989-90 season he played 23 games with the Peoria Rivermen in the IHL.

[edit] NHL beginnings

From 1989 to 1995 he played for the St. Louis Blues. 1992-1993 was his most successful season as he played a key role in the upset the Chicago Blackhawks, the reigning Clarence Campbell Conference regular season champions, sweeping them in four games in the first round of the playoffs. The Blues then faced the Toronto Maple Leafs, the first game being a classic, with the Leafs finally prevailing with a goal from Doug Gilmour in double overtime. Joseph & the Blues eventually lost the series in seven games, with a 6-0 defeat in the final contest. This was also the first time that Leafs fans had known Joseph. He finished third in voting for the Vezina Trophy that season behind winner Ed Belfour and Tom Barasso.

In 1995, he was traded (with Mike Grier) to the Edmonton Oilers for a first-round pick in the 1996 entry draft (eventually Marty Reasoner) and a first-round pick in the 1997 entry draft. With Edmonton, Joseph won two Zane Feldman Trophies (team MVP) and one Most Popular Player award. He backstopped the Oilers to first round playoff upsets of the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche in 1997 and 1998, respectively, their first playoff series wins since 1992.

[edit] Leaf stints

He then signed as a free agent with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a move which made him unpopular in Edmonton. However, it was with the Leafs that Joseph became a superstar and he was consistently one of the most popular players of both his team (since Doug Gilmour) and in the league. He was twice runner-up for the Vezina Trophy in 1999 and 2000, a finalist for the Lester B. Pearson Award in 1999, and won the King Clancy Memorial Trophy in 2000. Joseph played a key role in the Leafs' run to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1999 and 2002. After Leafs General Manager Pat Quinn was unwilling to give Joseph a four year contract (he offered three years), he left after the 2001-2002 season to sign with the Detroit Red Wings. Some also speculated that the relationship between Quinn and Joseph was frosty because Quinn had benched Joseph in the Salt Lake City Olympics after the first game. Joseph had also hinted at wanting to play for a team that could win it all, implying the the Leafs were not such a team. Joseph's move to Detroit was highly publicized and unpopular in Toronto.

[edit] Recent years

Joseph moved to the Detroit Red Wings, who had just won the Stanley Cup, in an attempt to play for a team that had a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup. Joseph initially was not popular with Red Wings fans but eventually found his form in the latter half of the 2002-03 season to backstop his team to the division title. Detroit was upset in the first round of the playoffs in 2003. In the 2003-2004 season he was originally Detroit's backup goalie when Dominik Hasek came out of retirement, and Detroit management tried to trade Joseph, since the team also had a capable backup in Manny Legacé. However, Joseph's $8 million USD per year contract made him hard to move. Ending up, Hašek's injuries allowed Joseph to play more regularly and the Wings finished first in the league. The Wings were defeated in the second round of the playoffs by the eventual Stanley Cup finalists from the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames.

Joseph moved to the Phoenix Coyotes via free agency in 2005 and signed a one year deal. Joseph was a member of the men's gold medal team that competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. On October 28, 2005, he won his 400th NHL game. On March 28, 2006, he posted his 424th career win, thereby moving into sixth place on the NHL’s all-time list, passing Tony Esposito.

Curtis and his wife Nancy have four children; Madison, Tristan, Taylor and Luke.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Regular season

Curtis Joseph
Season Team GP MIN W L T GA SO Avg
1989-1990 St. Louis 15 851 9 5 1 48 0 3.38
1990-1991 St. Louis 30 1,710 16 10 2 89 0 3.12
1991-1992 St. Louis 60 3,493 27 20 10 175 2 3.01
1992-1993 St. Louis 68 3,890 29 28 9 196 1 3.02
1993-1994 St. Louis 71 4,126 36 23 11 213 1 3.10
1994-1995 St. Louis 36 1,913 20 10 1 89 1 2.79
1995-1996 Edmonton 34 1,935 15 16 2 111 0 3.44
1996-1997 Edmonton 72 4,100 32 29 9 200 6 2.93
1997-1998 Edmonton 71 4,132 29 31 9 181 8 2.63
1998-1999 Toronto 67 4,001 35 24 7 171 3 2.56
1999-2000 Toronto 63 3,801 36 20 7 158 4 2.49
2000-2001 Toronto 68 4,100 33 27 8 163 6 2.39
2001-2002 Toronto 51 3,064 29 17 5 114 4 2.23
2002-2003 Detroit 61 3,566 34 19 6 148 5 2.49
2003-2004 Detroit 31 1,707 16 10 3 68 2 2.39
2005-2006 Phoenix 60 3,424 32 24 - 166 4 2.91
NHL Totals 858 49,821 428 313 90 2290 47 2.76

[edit] Post season

[edit] International play

Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Gold 2002 Salt Lake City Team

[edit] International statistics

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Rob Ray		 Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy
2000		 Succeeded by
Shjon Podein
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