They Call Him CuJo

The Edmonton Oilers made one of their most valuable transactions last season- they discarded a declining Bill Ranford and acquired the stunning Curtis Joseph. This season, he was perfect 90.7% of the time with a GAA of 2.93. He played over 4,000 minutes, and faced over 2,300 shots. In his atom year, he was playing for the Woodoors B team as the second goalie. His first major progress came while he was entered in the Ontario Minor Hockey league tournament. He lost the first game, and his team was moved into the lower division. The coach, Paul Torkoff, put Joseph in net for some experience. And, at the end of the tournament, Joseph came out of it with a multi-game shutout. This was the tournament that he won his first personal trophy for the most valuable goalie. "From then on," said the coach, "he never looked back."

Today's Joseph is the equivalent of yesterday's Gretzky. He is getting tons of mail from fans, being recognized everywhere, and kids love him. The Oilers head of public relations, Bill Tuele, remarked, "Kids just identify with this guy - Billy Ranford wasn't even close." And why shouldn't he be popular. He is one of the best goaltenders in the league, and has bought season seats to a skybox in the Edmonton Coliseum for children and charity. The skybox has been nicknamed, "Cujo's Cloud Nine."

Joseph has faced many difficulties in his career. In a playoff game against Toronto, when he was still playing for St. Louis, his neck was cut open by a skate belonging to Mike Fologno in overtime. There was blood over the crease, and recalls of Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuck, who also had a neck wound caused by Steve Tuttle of St. Louis in 1989. And there were wounds as recent as a few weeks ago, when a shot by Mush caught Cujo in the neck, opening a wound. There was no serious damage in either cases, but it shows that behind all of that padding, goaltenders don't have the safest position. In all of Joseph's professional career, the only award won by Joseph was the Oilers MVP award given at this season's last home game against Detroit. This may be the hardest thing to believe, especially with all the profits he has brought in from marketing, and how popular he has been, and how many shots this goaltender has faced. But, Cujo's real popularity grew when he came into Edmonton. "Everybody seemed to immediately recognize this great goaltender," said a fan, "and he hasn't been in the news that often either. I mean, before he came to Edmonton."

His equipment may have something to do with it too. On his mask is a picture of a rabid dog from the 1978 horror movie Cujo. "It was a mad St. Bernard. I'm going to try to stick with that. I think you associate certain goalies with their masks. Felix Potvin's The Cat, and Martin Brodeur has the Devil thing," answered Joseph when asked about his mask. On the back skull pad, it has the three letters, MTT. If you ever wanted to know what that was, it stands for Madison, Taylor, Tristan, Joseph's three children.

The playoffs have been a time of ups and downs. In the last three games, Cujo has let in two goals from the point. Point taken, he was screened, but they were both fairly light shots. Those were the only two easy goals he let in against Dallas. "Edmonton Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph isn't just one of the best in the NHL; he's simply one of the best guys in any league," said Journal writer Ric Dolphin. And with a Oiler record six shutouts this season, I don't think any of us can argue that.