Not too long ago I was born in Richmond Hill, ON where I was immediately adopted by one of the nurses in the hospital.  I grew up in Sharon, ON where I played Single A Hockey.  I played all of my Minor Hockey in East Gwillimbury, ON.  I was just recently at that arena where they hung one of my jerseys in my honour.  You should stop in there sometime and check it out.  If you can donate to your local arena’s I suggest that you do so.  If it weren’t for east Gwillimbury allowing me to borrow their used equipment I wouldn’t have had anything to play in.  There are so many kids today that were in my same position and if someone would give them the opportunity they would be able to showcase their abilities but so many kids with talents don’t get recognized because they don’t have the money to play.  My adopted parents moved to Nova Scotia when I was about 16 years old so I got a room in someone’s basement and continued to go to school, work to pay rent and focused on hockey.  I had a dream of someday becoming a professional NHL player.  I set my sights high and did everything I could to accomplish that dream.  I worked putting in swimming pools, landscaping and anything else I could do to make ends meet.   I played Junior B for the King City Dukes and at the ages of 18 and 19 I played for the Richmond Hill Dynes.  The coach that gave me the chance to play there was Paul Torkoff who was my coach earlier when I played for East Gwillimbury.  I may have never played Jr hockey if he hadn’t given me the chance.  Once he gave me a chance i was good.  Everyone needs a break.  I got mine through him.

Now the story gets good.  I was constantly trying to get a scholarship.  I wouldn’t be able to go to University without one, let alone play hockey.  I was MVP of the league and still didn’t get a scholarship.  I was frustrated.  While I was playing Junior B my parents had already moved away but I remember a friend of mine always picking me up to take me to games and practices by the name of Daren Ertle.  Even when my parents lived in Sharon, they never took me to a game or practice.  That’s just proof that if you want something bad enough and you work hard at achieving that dream anything is possible.  There was a guy named Paul Saunders who worked at Vince’s Fruit Market that took a liking to me and suggested that I play for Notre Dame in Saskatchewan so he put me in touch with the President of Notre Dame.  I called the school and was told that if I come out and play well I’ll get a scholarship.  A light bulb went off in my head.  What did I have to lose?  I had already graduated and was too old to go to the high school so they put me and five other guys in a trailer.  All we did was play hockey.  I was 20 years old playing Jr A Tier 2 hockey for the Notre Dame Hounds.  I don’t know if you have been to Notre Dame but it’s a lot like the movie Rango with Johnny Depp.  We used to laugh and say that you could watch your dog run away for 2 days.  It was nothing but prairies.  I ended up getting about 20 different scholarships.  I could have gone to any University I wanted just about but I chose Wisconsin.  It was a beautiful school, awesome atmosphere and their senior goalies were leaving so I’d get to play a lot.  GO BADGERS!  In 18 months I went from no scholarship to knowing that I’d be signing with an NHL team.  I started receiving letters from NHL teams and scouts.  Those letters inspired me and encouraged me that I was good enough for the NHL.  It was attention that I wasn’t accustomed to which was nice.  I never got drafted.  I was a free agent.  I finished my year at Wisconsin and got a few awards.  At this time I had 4 NHL teams bidding on me but I decided to go with St Louis.  You guys know the rest

Curtis Joseph # 31