Curtis Joseph

Curtis Shayne Joseph (né Munro; born April 29, 1967) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former professional player.

Nicknamed "Cujo", Joseph was immediately recognizable on the ice for his masks featuring a snarling dog, drawing inspiration from the Stephen King novel Cujo.

Throughout his NHL career, Joseph played for a number of franchises, rising to prominence during the playoffs with the St. Louis Blues, Edmonton Oilers, and Toronto Maple Leafs.

He also played for the Detroit Red Wings, Phoenix Coyotes and Calgary Flames.

Joseph was born on April 29, 1967 to unmarried teenage parents.

Soon after his birth, his mother, Wendy Munro, gave him up to be fostered by Jeanne and Howard Eakins.

She knew Jeanne from the nursing home where they both worked and thought that the Eakinses could provide a better life for him.

He was named Curtis after his birth father, Curtis Nickle.

Jeanne later divorced Howard and married Harold Joseph, at which point she cut off contact with Wendy Munro and began using Joseph as Curtis's last name.

In the Joseph household, Curtis grew up with two older stepbrothers, Grant and Victor.

He also has three older stepsisters and a stepbrother from a previous marriage.

The family is of mixed race with Harold and Victor being black, and Grant also being an adopted child prior to Curtis Joseph.

It was not until he signed with the St. Louis Blues that Joseph legally changed his surname from Munro to Joseph.

For the majority of his childhood, Curtis was raised in the East Gwillimbury community of Sharon.

He initially attended Whitchurch Highlands Public School and then Huron Heights Secondary School.

Curtis grew up playing hockey for the East Gwillimbury Eagles of the OMHA until moving west to play for Notre Dame College in (Wilcox, Saskatchewan).

He was also the last goaltender to have played in the NHL in the 1980s.

Although he led the Notre Dame Hounds to the Centennial Cup in 1987–88, and he played for the University of Wisconsin–Madison of the NCAA, he was undrafted by the NHL.

He signed as a free agent with the Blues in 1989.

In the 1989–90 season, he played 23 games with the Peoria Rivermen in the IHL.

Nicknamed "Cujo," Joseph 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 broke into the NHL in 1990, playing for the St. Louis Blues.

In the off-season 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, but the case went to arbitration, and a judge ruled that Stevens was to be awarded to the Devils in September 1991.

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; the Blues swept them in four games in the first round of the playoffs.

The Blues then faced the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second round, and though the Leafs prevailed, the series went to seven games thanks to Joseph's play.

Because of his efforts, he was nominated as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy that season, finishing third in voting behind winner Ed Belfour and Tom Barrasso.

Joseph is a three-time NHL All-Star (1994, 1999, 2000), and he was awarded the 1999–2000 King Clancy Memorial Trophy for exemplifying leadership qualities on and off the ice and making noteworthy humanitarian contributions to his community.

Joseph remained with the Blues until 1995.

After a disappointing first-round exit in the 1995 playoffs, St. Louis Blues coach and general manager Mike Keenan declined to re-sign Joseph and traded his rights to the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers began their training camp with two starting goaltenders, signed incumbent Bill Ranford and the unsigned Joseph.

He was also a member of Canada's gold medal-winning team at the 2002 Winter Olympics.

Joseph retired with the most career wins (454) of any goaltender in NHL history who never played on a Stanley Cup-winning team (which has since been surpassed by Roberto Luongo and Henrik Lundqvist, although they reached the Stanley Cup Finals once where Joseph never did), and was also the first goaltender to have 30 or more wins in a regular season for five different teams.

In the 2002 Winter Olympics held in Salt Lake City, he was a member of the Olympic Gold Medal winning Canadian men's hockey team.

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 freshman season, Joseph, despite not having been drafted, was signed by the St. Louis Blues to a free-agent entry-level contract.

He last played for the Maple Leafs during the 2008–09 NHL season.