Curtis Joseph – Cujo – St.Louis Blues – Edmonton Oilers – Toronto Maple Leafs – Detroit Red Wings – Arizona Coyotes – Calgary Flames – Team Canada – Hockey – Career – Story – NHL- Goalie – Hockey Hall of Fame – Rags to Riches
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24 Comments
The Blues had signed Shayne Corson as a RFA from the Oilers which the Oilers chose not to match. The 2 first round pick compensation were shipped back to the Blues for Cujo and Mike Grier. The Oilers had Bill Ranford as their #1 goalie at the time and everyone expected Sather to quickly trade Cujo to another team. However the Oilers and Ranford couldn't come to an agreement on a contract extension and the Oilers shockingly shipped him to Boston and signed Joseph half way through the season.
Talk about a comeback story! I had absolutely no idea that Curtis Joseph struggled so much as a youth. He is definitely the ultimate underdog story as you mentioned!
Mike Keenan was a bully that interfered with Cujo's career and clearly caused unnecessary tension. The St. Louis Blues had a stacked team and would have likely won a Stanley Cup with a more defensive minded coach.
They sure scored a lot of goals, but counted on Curtis more often than not.
Joseph's brilliance during back to back opening round upsets in 1997 and 1998 is how he first got my attention.
When he signed with my hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, I beleafed that we had a winner (I still wanted Felix Potvin to stay though, as it would have been like having a Chris Osgood/Mike Vernon tandem).
Unfortunately, Cujo could only do so much and failed to reach the finals. 1999 was probably his best chance, as the Dallas Stars were not as strong as the 2002 Detroit Red Wings after all.
Oh well, at least he was still able to make a name for himself. The NHL should recognize his achievements already.
Anyway, thank you for putting this all together and sharing his inspirational life story :).
Keep it up and NEVER give up!
You could do an entire video on Cujo's impact here in Edmonton. How him and Doug Weight lifted the team back to relevance was like turning on a light in the entire city. It was electric for a few years all because of him
Love the background music and the introduction!
Man I didnt know all this about Cujo…Talk about being the underdogs of underdogs and the perseverance despite being rejected so many times. His legacy is much bigger to me than those that went on to win cups.
Great video! Cujo is one to remember!
Love the music for this one
Curtis was weird because he played better the more shots he faced so when he played for Detroit in the early 2000s he didint play as well
Read his book – his story is mind blowing. Grew up idolizing him but knowing his story gave me a new respect for him. Long live Cujo!
After watching this I see why I liked him
one of the last OG helmets
I’m watching this video so I can know who he is because I have a hockey card with a piece of his jersey
Wow. I never knew about his childhood.
I've always believed he was a sure fire HoF'er when I watched him as a kid. The Hall should be ashamed of themselves for never inducting him.
He played in an era with probably the 3 greatest goalies of all time (Roy, Brodeur, and Hasek) yet was equal to another HoF'er in Belfour imo.
This video made me respect him even more.
The HOF needs to correct their mistake already
Losingest goaltender of all time Look it up
Fourth all-time and winds first all the time and losses losingest goaltender of all time. He was a stud.
I remember playing ball tag around Curt's house in Sharon. There was always this guy walking aimlessly around the house. I still have scars on my knuckles from playing "bloody knuckles" with the boys who were 2-4 years older than me! Living on Patterson..I remember there was talk of him coming to live with us as it was just my parents , my sister and me in a 4 bedroom house. I remember going to Meadowbrook PS and playing basketball with Curt and Grant….the dude was always very athletic!
Thanks for posting this. Cujo is the single greatest player I remember from my childhood. His mask, his humble personality off the ice and wild aggresion on the ice. A true Canadian hero in every sense of the word. Glad to see him doing so well these days and spreading a messege of love.
His female companion choices haven't been good…a Playmate?? really??? Maybe that's an untrue bad rumor, but I doubt it.
Always said that Keenan was an idiot. Would have been interesting to see what could of happened in St. Louis without Keenan and with Cujo.
CuJo is the reason I became a goaltender! Legendary!
What a LEGEND!
Keenan was such a PoS.
My sister (9) is friends with cujos daughter and when she was getting picked up cujo played catch with me! Turns out he played football in highschool
Unbelievable video! Thanks for sharing.