Cujo by Curtis Joseph

Cujo by Curtis Joseph

Author:Curtis Joseph
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2018-09-13T00:00:00+00:00


Chapter 38

The Classy Guys

AFTER I TOOK over in the Edmonton net, we started winning at a 500 clip, which was more than the team had done in a few years. We’d gone 15–14–2 when we hosted Toronto on a Hockey Night in Canada game on Saturday, March 30, 1996. We were just three points short of a playoff spot. Then a player, I can’t remember who, fell on my ankle. I missed the next four games and came back for the last two in the middle of April. Unfortunately, my ankle wasn’t diagnosed as broken. In fact, the papers reported it as a sprained knee. That injury wound up causing me some major problems in the future. I was back for a couple of games, but I wasn’t healthy and we didn’t make the playoffs.

I had always made the playoffs and not being in them I figured it was just a one-off. I told myself, “I’m never going to miss the playoffs again.”

If you get bounced from the playoffs early or you miss them altogether, you don’t feel like you’re finished playing hockey. It’s early April and you want to play more. So I decided to go to the World Championship—it’s a great opportunity to kind of bond with guys you wouldn’t normally play with on other teams and to try to win a championship that was meaningful to people. So I joined Team Canada in Vienna, Austria. So did Paul Kariya, a super-talented forward with Anaheim. He was on our team along with Kelly Buchberger of the Oilers, Steve Thomas from New Jersey and Brad May of the Buffalo Sabres.

Marty Brodeur and I were the two goaltenders. We each played a couple of games, and then I was given the opportunity to run with the ball.

There was a lot of team-building prior to the tournament. By that, I mean the guys would go out and have some beers and have some fun together. I bonded quite closely with future Leafs teammate Steve Thomas. We enjoyed our time together. I remember one night he told me that he appreciated when I was in net because if the team made a mistake up front I was there for them.

We were a big-time run-and-gun type of team, so it was important that I never gave up on the puck. My philosophy was to get as much of myself as possible between the puck and the net. I didn’t make a lot of clean catches, like, clean glove saves. I used my glove hand as a blocker almost as much as I did for catching.

In order to set up and make yourself a big target, you’ve gotta be smart. You’ve got to be able to read a play. You’ve got to be able to pretty much know what is coming next in order to set yourself up a certain way, position yourself a certain way.

Today on the morning highlights, you see lots of impossible saves. You’ll see the goalie down and out, and suddenly he throws his arm up and stops the puck.



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