Curtis Joseph

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Position Goaltender
Catches Left
Nickname(s) Cujo, Cooj
Height
Weight		 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
190 lb (86 kg/13 st 8 lb)
NHL Team
F. teams		 Calgary Flames
St. Louis Blues
Edmonton Oilers
Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
Phoenix Coyotes
Nationality Flag of Canada Canada
Born April 29, 1967 (1967-04-29) (age 41),
Keswick, Ontario, CAN
Pro career 1989 – present

Curtis Shayne Joseph (born April 29, 1967 in Keswick, Ontario, Canada,[1] as Curtis Munroe), is a professional ice hockey goaltender, currently serving as backup goalie for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League.

Joseph is immediately recognizable on the ice for his masks featuring a snarling dog, drawing inspiration from the Stephen King novel Cujo, which also happened to be his nickname, derived from the first two letters of his first and last names. Throughout his NHL career; Joseph played for a number of franchises, rising to prominence during some epic playoff series with the Edmonton Oilers, and later with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He was also a member of Canada's gold medal winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. He also played for the Detroit Red Wings.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Joseph was born to unmarried teenage parents.[2] 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, and her husband Harold Joseph. Jeanne and her husband decided to name the baby Curtis after his birth 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.[3] It was not until he signed with the St. Louis Blues that Joseph legally changed his name from Curtis Shayne Munro to Curtis Shayne Joseph.[3]

Joseph initially attended Whitchurch Highlands Public School until the family relocated to the Keswick area. Although Joseph led his high school team, Notre Dame College (Wilcox, Saskatchewan)[4] to the Centennial Cup and then played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison of the NCAA, he went undrafted.[5] 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] 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, Phoenix Coyotes, and the Calgary Flames.[6] Joseph is a three time NHL All-Star (1994, 1999, 2000), and 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. His greatest achievement came in Salt Lake City 2002, where he won the Olympic Gold Medal for Team Canada.

[edit] NHL Beginnings

Joseph broke into the NHL in 1989, he played for the St. Louis Blues. In the offseason following the 1990-91 NHL season, the Blues signed Brendan Shanahan from the New Jersey Devils. Shanahan was a restricted free agent, and thus the Devils were entitled to compensation. The teams could not agree on what the compensation was; the Blues offered Curtis Joseph, Rod Brind'Amour, and two draft picks, while the Devils wanted Scott Stevens. Joseph seemed to be the answer the Devils were looking for in goal, however the case went to arbitration, and a judge ruled that Stevens was to be awarded to the Devils in September of 1991. Joseph would remain with the Blues until 1995. The 1992-93 NHL season was his most successful season as he played a key role in the upset of 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 in a second-round series that went seven games, thanks in large part to Joseph. The Leafs eventually prevailed. Because of his efforts, he was nominated as a finalsit for the Vezina Trophy that season. He finished third in voting behind winner Ed Belfour and Tom Barrasso.

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] Toronto Maple Leafs

Following the 97'-98' season, Joseph 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. While with the Leafs, he had three consecutive seasons of 30+ wins, 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 Leafs were not such a team. Joseph's move to Detroit was highly publicized and unpopular in Toronto.

[edit] Detroit Red Wings

Joseph warming up prior to a Flames game.
Joseph warming up prior to a Flames game.

Joseph moved to the Detroit Red Wings, who had just won 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 Hašek 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. After a stint in the minors, he returned to the Red Wings lineup while Hasek was nursing a groin injury. The Red Wings plan was to attract him to other teams until Hasek returned to the lineup. But in February, Hasek decided to call it quits for the season, which once again solidified Joseph's position as the Red Wings starting goaltender. The Wings finished first overall in the league. The Wings were defeated in the second round of the playoffs in six games by the eventual Stanley Cup finalists from the Western Conference, the Calgary Flames.

[edit] Recent Years

Joseph moved to the Phoenix Coyotes via free agency in 2005 and signed a one year deal. 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. Joseph had shown interest in re-joining the Toronto Maple Leafs, indicating that he would be fine with a back-up role and a reduced salary. In September 2007 the Ottawa Senators quietly expressed interest in acquiring Joseph if they could unload Martin Gerber and his large contract. Joseph was a member of Team Canada in the 2007 Spengler Cup, leading them to the championship on December 31, 2007.[7]

On January 14, 2008, Joseph signed a one-year, US$1.5 Million contract with the Calgary Flames [1]. On March 1st of 2008, Joseph moved past Terry Sawchuk for fourth place in all-time NHL wins with 448 in a 3-1 win over his former team, the Phoenix Coyotes. On April 13, 2008 Joseph replaced Mikka Kiprusoff less than four minutes into the first period of Game #3 of the Flames' first round series of the 2008 playoffs with the San Jose Sharks. Joseph backstopped the Flames to an exciting come from behind 4-3 win after initially falling behind 3-0. This win made him the first goaltender ever to win a post-season game as a member of five different teams: St.Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit, and Calgary

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Regular season

   
Season Team League GP W L T* MIN GA SO GAA SV%
1988–89 Wisconsin Badgers WCHA 38 21 11 5 2267 94 1 2.49
1989–90 Peoria Rivermen IHL 23 10 8 2 1241 80 0 3.87
1989–90 St. Louis Blues NHL 15 9 5 1 852 48 0 3.38 .890
1990–91 St. Louis Blues NHL 30 16 10 2 1710 89 0 3.12 .898
1991–92 St. Louis Blues NHL 60 27 20 10 3494 175 2 3.01 .910
1992–93 St. Louis Blues NHL 68 29 28 9 3890 196 1 3.02 .911
1993–94 St. Louis Blues NHL 71 36 23 11 4127 213 1 3.10 .911
1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 36 20 10 1 1914 89 1 2.79 .902
1995–96 Las Vegas Thunder IHL 15 12 2 1 873 29 1 1.99 .929
1995–96 Edmonton Oilers NHL 34 15 16 2 1935 111 0 3.44 .886
1996–97 Edmonton Oilers NHL 72 32 29 9 4089 200 6 2.93 .907
1997–98 Edmonton Oilers NHL 71 29 31 9 4132 181 8 2.63 .905
1998–99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 67 35 24 7 4001 171 3 2.56 .910
1999–00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 63 36 20 7 3801 158 4 2.49 .915
2000–01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 68 33 27 8 4100 163 6 2.39 .915
2001–02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 51 29 17 5 3065 114 4 2.23 .906
2002–03 Detroit Red Wings NHL 61 34 19 6 3566 148 5 2.49 .912
2003–04 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 1 1 0 0 60 1 0 1.00 .952
2003–04 Detroit Red Wings NHL 31 16 10 3 1708 68 2 2.39 .909
2005–06 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 60 32 21 3 3424 166 4 2.91 .902
2006–07 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 55 18 31 2 2993 159 4 3.91 .893
2007–08 Calgary Flames NHL 9 3 2 0 399 17 0 2.55 .906
NHL Totals 922 449 343 95 53213 2466 51 2.78 .907

*Note: As of the 2005–06 season, ties have been replaced by an overtime or shootout loss

[edit] Post-Season

   
Season Team League GP W L MIN GA SA SO GAA SV%
1989–90 St. Louis Blues NHL 6 4 1 327 18 166 0 3.30 .892
1991–92 St. Louis Blues NHL 6 2 4 379 23 217 0 3.64 .894
1992–93 St. Louis Blues NHL 11 7 4 715 27 438 2 2.27 .938
1993–94 St. Louis Blues NHL 4 0 4 246 15 158 0 3.66 .905
1994–95 St. Louis Blues NHL 7 3 3 392 24 178 0 3.67 .865
1996–97 Edmonton Oilers NHL 12 5 7 767 36 405 2 2.82 .911
1997–98 Edmonton Oilers NHL 12 5 7 715 23 319 3 1.93 .928
1998–99 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 17 9 8 1011 41 440 1 2.43 .907
1999–00 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 12 6 6 729 25 369 1 2.06 .932
2000–01 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 11 7 4 685 24 329 3 2.10 .927
2001–02 Toronto Maple Leafs NHL 20 10 10 1253 48 557 3 2.30 .934
2002–03 Detroit Red Wings NHL 4 0 4 289 10 120 0 2.08 .917
2003–04 Detroit Red Wings NHL 9 4 4 518 12 197 1 1.39 .939
2007–08 Calgary Flames NHL 2 1 0 79 1 33 1 0.76 .970
NHL Totals 132 63 66 8,106 327 3,904 16 2.45 .917

[edit] International play

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

Joseph represented Canada at:

[edit] Awards

[edit] References

General
Specific
  1. ^ Curtis Joseph's profile at hockeydb.com. Hockey db.com the Internet Hockey database. Retrieved on 2007-11-15.
  2. ^ Larry Wigge (2006-04-03). Once again, 'Cujo' is in command. NHL. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  3. ^ a b Wigge, Larry. "The Man Called Cujo", The Sporting News, 2000-01-31. Retrieved on 2007-12-31. 
  4. ^ Curtis Joseph. NHL players. TSN.
  5. ^ Curtis Joseph—Biography. Hockey Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
  6. ^ Curtis Joseph. hockeygoalies.org. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
  7. ^ a b Canada wins 2007 Spengler Cup. TSN (2007-12-31). Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
Preceded by
Rob Ray		 Winner of the King Clancy Memorial Trophy
2000		 Succeeded by
Shjon Podein


Persondata
NAME Joseph, Curtis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cujo
SHORT DESCRIPTION ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH April 29, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Keswick, Ontario
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH