Curtis Joseph
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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.
Playing career
Joseph is nicknamed "Cujo" and has played wearing the number 31 for the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, and the 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.
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. However, it wasn't until he signed with the Blues that he legally changed his name from Curtis Shayne Munro to Curtis Shayne Joseph.
Although Joseph led his first college team, Notre Dame College (Wilcox, Saskatchewan) to the Centennial Cup and then played for the University of Wisconsin 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.
From 1989 to 1995 he played for the St. Louis Blues. 1992-1993 was his most successful season as he and Brett Hull played key roles in the upset the Chicago Blackhawks, the reigning Clarence Campbell Conference regular season champions, sweeping them in four games during the first round of the playoffs. The Blues then faced the Toronto Maple Leafs, led by Doug Gilmour, taking them to seven games before the Leafs finally prevailed. This was also the first time that Leafs fans got to know Joseph. He finished third in voting for the Vezina Trophy that season behind winner Ed Belfour and Tom Barasso.
In 1995, he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers where he played until 1998. 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.
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 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 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's move to Detroit was highly publicized and unpopular in Toronto.
Joseph moved to the Detroit Red Wings, at the time the Stanley Cup champions, to play for a team that had a better chance of winning the Stanley Cup, succeeding Dominik Hašek who had retired. Joseph initiallly was not popular with Wings fans but eventually found his form in the latter half 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 Hašek came out of retirement, and Detroit management tried to trade Joseph, since the team also had a capable backup in Manny Legace. However, Joseph's $8 million USD per year contract made him hard to move. Ending up, Hasek'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 finalists Calgary Flames.
He moved to the Phoenix Coyotes via free agency in 2005 and signed a one year deal. Joseph was a member of the mens 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.
Awards
Records
Career statistics
Regular season
| 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 | 0 | 166 | 4 | 2.91 |
| NHL Totals | 858 | 49,821 | 428 | 313 | 90 | 2290 | 47 | 2.76 |
Post season
International play
International statistics
External links
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