(Over the course of the summer we will be unveiling the 50 Greatest Badgers of All-Time every Monday – Friday)
No. 44 – Curtis Joseph, Hockey
When you look up the career leaders at the University of Wisconsin, you may not see the name of Curtis Joseph up there often. There’s a reason for that though, because “CuJo” played just one season in a Badgers uniform.
After not even being drafted by an NHL franchise, Joseph was offered a free agent contract following his freshman season and took it. He went on to have a very long career as an NHL goaltender with stops in St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit, Phoenix and Calgary before calling it a career in January of 2010.
During his time at Wisconsin, Joseph managed to have one of the better single season’s of any goaltender in Badger history. He was in net for 21 of the Badgers’ 25 victories that season, posting a .919 save percentage, which was a school record at the time and still second-best ever recorded. Additionally, his 2.49 goals against average that season is the fifth-best mark in school history. It all led to him being named first-team All-WCHA that season.
While his career was just one season at the university, there’s little doubt that had Joseph stayed with the Badgers any longer he may have been the biggest legend at goaltender we’ve ever seen. Interestingly, we may never have gotten another legendary Badger goaltender had Cujo not gone off to the NHL so quickly.
Full 50 Greatest Badgers List:
No. 50 – Randy Jablonic
No. 49 – Alex Rigsby
No. 48 — Michael Lihrman
No. 47 — Howard “Cub” Buck
No. 46 — Don Davey
No. 45 — Pat O’Dea
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