Cujo fans Flame of faith continued

Nonetheless, the 41-year-old Joseph continued practicing on his 140-by-70-foot sheet of ice at his home near Toronto, waiting for the phone to ring.

Nothing. No calls for over half the season.

“Sure, you wonder if this is it, when you are not getting a lot of offers,” the veteran goalie told The Edmonton Journal. His willingness to play for Canada at the Spengler Cup in Davos, Switzerland in December — where his outstanding performance helped Canada grab tournament victory — generated calls from various NHL teams looking for goaltending insurance heading towards the playoffs.

Says Joseph to Living Light News, “I hadn’t been on the ice since April. I needed to play if I was going to continue in my career, so anytime you can play for a Team Canada it’s a great experience.”

“A lot of teams became interested after the Spengler Cup,” agent Don Meehan told The Journal. Ironically, the former Oiler chose Edmonton’s provincial rival.

“Calgary has a good chance to win, I believe, it’s a hard working team and has as good a chance as anybody else to win a Stanley Cup.” Joseph’s contract will pay him $650,000 to back-up workhorse Mikka Kiprusoff, who had played 47 of 48 games at the time of his signing. “It’s a supporting role, which is fine by me,” Joseph told The Globe & Mail.

Once a huge fan favourite in Edmonton, both as a player and a citizen, Joseph, nicknamed “Cujo,” is known for raising his game when it counts most. He helped the underdog Oilers taste playoff success against Dallas and Colorado in 1996/97 and 1997/98. “I think we won a couple of upset rounds in the few years that I was there and the fans really appreciated knocking off the higher seed.”

While in Edmonton, Joseph initiated a project called Cujo’s “Cloud Nine,” a private skybox he rented for $100,000 a season for sick kids. Then-Oiler PR man Bill Tuele told The Journal at the time, “Kids just identify with the guy — I don’t know where it comes from.”

Tuele added, “Not since Gretzky has there been an Oiler who has received the volume of mail that Joseph does: requests for him to speak at bar mitzvahs or weddings; letters telling him ‘I named my son Curtis;’ and the thousands of requests a month from the kids for autographs and hockey advice.” Unfortunately, for Oiler fans, Joseph’s outstanding play earned him a huge pay raise, something the cash-strapped team could ill afford to pay.

In 1998, the Ontario native broke many hearts when he signed a massive $24-million US deal with Toronto. Joseph played a key role in the Leafs making the Eastern Conference finals in 1999 and 2002. But after GM Pat Quinn was unwilling to give him a four year contract (he offered three years), Joseph signed with Detroit after the 2001-02 season.

The Wings had just won the Stanley Cup, and although Joseph led the Wings to a division title, the team was knocked out in the first round. That opened the door for Dominik Hasek, the legendary Czech goalie who was instrumental in their Cup win, to un-retire. This created a log jam in goal, forcing Joseph to take a backseat to Hasek, going as far as playing a game for their farm team.
Joseph moved on to Phoenix for two seasons, where he played under Wayne Gretzky. The team was undergoing a youth movement, so he was released during the off-season.

His signing with the Flames provides what may be his last shot at winning the Stanley Cup.
Flames captain Jarome Iginla didn’t hide his excitement when speaking to The Edmonton Journal: “Until we signed him, I didn’t realize Curtis was in the top five winningest goalies ... that’s an amazing stat. To be top five at any position is special.”

Actually, with 448 victories, Joseph recently overcame legendary stopper Terry Sawchuk to grab fourth place all-time. Overcoming is something Joseph has done his whole life.

He was born in Keswick, Ontario in 1967 to unmarried teenage parents. A hospital nurse, Jeanne Joseph, befriended his birth mother, Wendy Munro, who felt she needed help raising her son.
In his early life, Joseph spent periods of time under the care of both women. However, Wendy felt he was better off in the care of Jeanne and her second husband, Harold.

Since Joseph’s foster parents weren’t particularly keen about sports, it wasn’t until age 11 that he enrolled in minor hockey. Playing net was the best way to be part of a team. “Not being able to skate was a little bit of a drawback to be able to play forward or defence,” Joseph told The Journal.
Joseph’s early ambition was to use hockey to advance his education. He was offered a scholarship by Notre Dame College, renowned for producing more than 100 NHLers over the years, including Wendell Clark. Joseph led the Hounds to a Centennial Cup victory in 1988.

“It was the best team I played for — period,” Joseph told The Edmonton Journal. Following a season with the University of Wisconsin, the undrafted goalie was offered contracts by four NHL teams, including the Edmonton Oilers. He chose St. Louis because their goaltending situation offered him the best opportunity to play.

His first NHL game was a 6-1 loss to the Oilers. “I didn’t play very good,” admits Joseph.
Now, as his playing career winds down, the soft-spoken Joseph has faith that God will continue to direct his life. “My faith has helped me to see the big picture,” he says. Joseph became a Christian after seeing how Christ had positively impacted his wife’s life. While he would love to cap his career with a Cup win, he told Sportsweek, “My relationship and my family’s relationship with God is our central focus.” He added, “Making God the centre of your being is what brings true happiness.”

Photo courtesy Calgary Flames

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