Growing up in Richmond Hill, Jordan Binnington got a chance to see Curtis Joseph up close in his heyday with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now that he’s holding it down in net for the St. Louis Blues, another one of Cujo’s old teams, it makes sense that Binnington is going to show some love.
Binnington is going to wear a mask inspired by Cujo’s classic rabid dog design this season. It’s designed by David Gunnarsson (@daveart) and Cujo’s smiling mug even graces one side of the mask.
Binnington grew up admiring Cujo as a young goalie himself, he tells stlouisblues.com, and even owned a youth mask with a custom paint job inspired by Cujo’s rabid dog design.
"I was a Leafs fan. Growing up in Toronto, you pretty much had to be... My dad put me in that goalie school for nine weeks every summer for six or seven years, and there were some days when 'Cujo' would come in and train there. He would bring a 24-pack of waters on the ice with him. Not very eco-friendly nowadays but you get the point. It was great for us young goalies to be able to see him work like that. He had a unique competitive style. I liked his helmet, his pads. I was a fan."
Unfortunately, Binnington only intends to wear the mask for three Blues home games this season, when the team busts out their 90s throwbacks.
We’d like to see this homage on the ice a few more times than that, but the bright side is that this mask will definitely pair well with these classic threads.
