Curtis Joseph

Curtis Shayne Joseph (born Curtis Shayne Munro on April 29, 1967) is a retired Canadian professional goaltender.

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 has played for a number of franchises, rising to prominence during 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 has also played for the St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and Calgary Flames.

Early life
Joseph was born to unmarried 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, 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 stepbrother Grant and a stepbrother Victor; he also has three older stepsisters and a step brother from a previous marriage. The family was of mixed race with Harold and Victor being black. 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.

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 Hounds (at Wilcox, Saskatchewan) to the Centennial Cup and then played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison of the NCAA, he went undrafted by the NHL. 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.

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. 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. Perhaps his greatest achievement came in Salt Lake City 2002, where he was a member of the 2002 Olympics Gold Medal winning Canadian men's hockey team.

University of Wisconsin
Curtis Joseph began his college play at the University of Wisconsin. While playing for the Badgers, Joseph won 21 games and was voted to the WCHA All Conference Team. Shortly after his first season, Joseph left for the NHL.

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 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 finalist 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.

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 Wendel Clark and 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. In 2000, during Game One of the series against the New Jersey Devils, he was considered the deciding factor in the 2-1 win where the Leafs were outshot 33-21.

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.

Detroit Red Wings
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 by the eventual conference champions, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. 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 Hašek was nursing a groin injury. The Red Wings plan was to attract him to other teams until Hašek returned to the lineup. But in February, Hašek 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.

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.

On January 14, 2008, Joseph signed a one-year, US$1.5 Million contract with the Calgary Flames. On March 1 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 a come from behind 4-3 win after initially falling behind 3-0. This win made him the first goaltender to win a post-season game as a member of five different teams: St.Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit and Calgary.

On July 1, 2008, Joseph rejoined the Toronto Maple Leafs by signing a 1 year, $700,000 contract.

On December 30, 2008, Joseph recorded his 450th career win in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Atlanta Thrashers.

On March 24, 2009, Joseph came out cold after 59 minutes in relief of Martin Gerber who was kicked out of a home game against the Washington Capitals. The 41 year old stopped 8 shots in overtime and all three shots in the shootout, including one from Alexander Ovechkin to secure a win for Toronto and to be designated first star of the game. Also it was the first time Joseph has won a game in which he didn't start.

On April 8, 2009, Joseph recorded his 352 NHL loss which ties Gump Worsley for the NHL record for most losses by a goaltender.

On June 9, 2009, it was reported that the Maple Leafs will not bring back Joseph for the 2010 season.

Joseph announced his retirement on January 12, 2010 in Toronto.

Currently Joseph is a goaltending coach for the Kingston Frontenacs of the OHL.

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

International play
Joseph represented Canada at:


 * 1996 IIHF World Championships (Silver Medal)
 * 1996 World Cup of Hockey (Lost Final)
 * 1997 IIHF World Championships (Gold Medal)
 * 1998 Olympics (4th place)
 * 2002 Olympics (Gold Medal)
 * 2007 Spengler Cup (Gold Medal)

Awards

 * 1993-94 NHL All-Star Game
 * 1998-99 NHL All-Star Game
 * 1999-00 NHL All-Star Game
 * 2000 King Clancy Memorial Trophy
 * 2002 Olympic Gold Medal (Team Canada)
 * 2007 Spengler Cup (Team Canada)