Curtis Joseph was on top of the world after his freshman season at Wisconsin. After a stellar 1988-89 campaign, the star goaltender was showered with honors, winning both the WCHA Rookie of the Year award and the WCHA Player of the Year award.
After experiencing such considerable success, Joseph decided the next logical step for him was to play at the game’s highest level. He left the Badgers certain that he would be a high pick in the 1989 NHL entry draft.
Draft day came and Joseph watched 252 players get selected in 12 rounds. His name was not called.
12 years later, “Cujo,” as Joseph is known throughout the NHL, is one of the top goaltenders in the world, the backbone of the Toronto Maple Leafs and a member of the Canadian Olympic team.
In the years since he went undrafted, Joseph has been named an All-Star, MVP of the Edmonton Oilers and has been an almost annual contender for the Vezina Trophy, awarded to the NHL’s top goaltender.
In becoming one of the most feared and respected goalies in the league, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound native of Keswick, Ontario has made more than one NHL team wish they had selected him in 1989.
After his draft-day disappointment, Joseph signed with the St. Louis Blues, where he played until the Oilers obtained him in August of 1995. Joseph enjoyed three seasons with Edmonton, where he was adored by fans as well as his teammates, twice winning the Oilers’ Most Popular Player Award, as named by the Edmonton fans.
After establishing himself as a truly elite goaltender, many NHL teams sought Joseph when he became an unrestricted free agent after the 1997-98 season. The Maple Leafs won the Cujo bidding war, and the former Badger has become a fixture in the Toronto net in the years since.
This year, for only the second time in history, the Olympic Games permitted professional hockey players to participate in the competition. Prior to the Games, Team Canada coach Pat Quinn named Cujo his number one goalie, selecting Joseph over the Devils’ Martin Brodeur and Dallas’ Eddie Belfour.
Joseph understands the fanatical devotion the Canadian people have to the sport they invented, and he fully intends to make the most of his chance to represent his nation.
“In Canada, every household will be tuned in to our games,” Joseph said. “It’s the world stage. Fans from Vancouver and Edmonton will be cheering for you instead of against you. [A gold medal] would bring a lot of pride into our game. I think it would have a domino effect at every level of Canadian hockey. It would be great.”
To get the gold, Joseph and Team Canada will have to adjust to conditions different from what they are used to in the NHL, including a larger rink size. The Olympic conditions are identical to those that most of the European teams are accustomed to, and the Canadians hope that they can overcome this disadvantage, along with the added pressure of being on an international stage.
“It’s a different environment, that’s for sure,” Joseph said. “It’s a different crowd, it’s a bigger ice surface. For a young person, it can be tough – I know. For me, I’ve been in enough playoff games not to be too intimidated about crazy high-pressure environments. The key is to focus on stopping the puck and not on the atmosphere.”
During his years in Toronto, Joseph has focused on being an elite goaltender but has also used his stardom to help out in the Toronto community. He established a program known as “Cujo’s Kids,” a group that works with sick children’s hospitals in Toronto and the surrounding cities of London and Hamilton.
Joseph has arranged for seriously ill children to attend every Leafs home game in his private Air Canada Center suite and receive an autographed picture of Joseph, along with a special visit from Carlton the Bear, the Leafs’ mascot.
Joseph’s action in the community garnered him yet another award to add to his considerably sized trophy case. In 2000, he was given the NHL King Clancy Memorial Trophy for leadership qualities on and off the ice and making a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.
But for at least the next week, Joseph will have to forget about his awards and accolades and focus on stifling the world’s best offensive players and leading his nation to victory on the earth’s largest athletic stage.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t get drafted.
