Goalies put God at the top of the list NHL goalies Curtis Joseph and John Vanbiesbrouck have it all, good families and sucessful professional hockey careers. But God is still number one on their list of priorities. by Jessie Schut     Hockey talk: in sports-crazy Edmonton, it's a favourite pastime. When the subject of goaltending comes up, citizens swell with pride about "their" Curtis Joseph. Cujo's stats, his saves, his value to the team, they're all weighty topics of conversation.     Then, inevitably, someone will ask the question: "Will he stay?"     In July of this year, the Edmonton Oiler goalie's contract expires. He'll be an unrestricted free agent, meaning he can join any hockey team that wants him.     There may be quite a line-up waiting to talk to his agent Don Meehan. Joseph is one of the best in the NHL. The Canadian Olympic squad picked him for its roster, and he's played for Canada at the World Championships and World Cup.     This year, he's posted a regular season club record for shut-outs at seven, breaking his own record of six last year. It's not unusual for him to figure largely in front page sports stories about Edmonton's favourite club.     Joseph is enormously popular and instantly recognizable around town. At the end of the season, Oiler fans voted him the team's most popular player. He gets sacks of mail and dozens of requests for interviews and appearances every week.     Trying to keep a balance in life with all that attention can't always be easy. But Joseph isn't letting all the accolades go to his head. Just about everyone who's ever met him says he's super nice. Undeniably, he's a real asset to hockey, to the Oiler's club, and to the city.     So to hockey fans, the question is a huge one. Will he stay in Edmonton?     Cujo has to decide his hockey future over the summer. And he has a simple game plan for that: "You make a list of priorities, and you throw it all into the mix, and you make a decision," he says.     For Joseph, the priorities in his life are already fixed.     "First there's God," he says. "Then there's my family. And then finally, because it takes up a lot of my life, there's hockey. But definitely in that order."     Many hockey fans may be surprised to see that hockey is a distant third in his list of priorities. He's loved the game, ever since he began playing in 1977 as a 10 year old with the Sharon Woodoors, the Atom B squad of a village less than an hour outside of Toronto. And it's always been his dream to play in the NHL, something that happened when he signed with the St. Louis Blues in 1989.     But it isn't the most important thing in his life.     "Yes, hockey is important," he says. "But in the big picture, it's a lot smaller than fans imagine. If hockey quit tomorrow, I'd still have a lot to live for. That knowledge helps me play better, too, because hockey is a high pressure game."     Joseph knows that a goalie's career usually ends by age 35, which means he may only have another four years left to play. That doesn't bother him at all. "Thirty-five is old for hockey, but it's young for the rest of your life," he says.     Edmonton has been good for him, says Joseph, and he and his family really like the city. He also likes his team-mates. "It's fun to be around them. You could bring your mom into the dressing room and not be embarrassed by any of the team members," he says with a grin. The fact that they're a competitive and skilled young team, and an outside contender for the Stanley Cup, will be important factors in his decision about staying or going.     Family is a bigger priority for Cujo than the game of hockey, however. He and his wife Nancy have three children, daughter Madison, 6, and sons Taylor, 4, and Tristan, 18 months. Joseph says it's a real joy to watch them grow and mature. Being on the road during the season is tough, and he wishes he could spend more time with them.     "I love the summers, when we have quality time with the kids," he says. "We get up every morning and say, ‘What are we going to do today?' Maybe we'll go to a park, or go swimming. That's important."     He feels strongly that as a father he wants to leave a legacy to his children of raising them up in the right way.     At the top of the list however, higher than hockey and family, is his commitment to God. His wife Nancy accepted Jesus as her Saviour before they were married.     "I realized that Christ was important to her, and over the years I had friends who encouraged me who were Christians, too," he says. Over the years, his faith progressed and he too, committed his life to Christ.     As often as his schedule allows, he takes his family to Ellerslie Road Baptist Church, an important source of his spiritual growth. He tries to make as much time as possible for that, he says, because raising children makes him realize he has a lot to learn in that area. Church is important not only for himself and Nancy, but also for his kids.     He's also aware that as a role model, he can affect a child's life in a positive way. Many children look up to him, and aspire to fill his jersey someday. He's taught at hockey camps, and always has time to sign autographs.     "You're aware of needing to do the right thing for these kids," he says. "God gave us outlines for life that we need to live by, and that definitely fits into my role model mentality."     Another one of his favourite projects is Cujo's Cloud Nine Sky Box. Every home game it's filled with kids in wheelchairs, kids with disabilities, and kids battling illnesses.     "When my agent suggested it, Nancy and I said, ‘That's perfect for us, that's awesome, let's do it,'" he says. "The kids get out and see a game, they have a hot-dog and a pop, or whatever they want, and if it helps them in any way, that's great!"     By his own admission, Cujo says he's got a lot to learn about the Christian life, and he's eager to grow. One thing it's already taught him is to see the big picture of life, to help him establish his priorities when he makes decisions about his future: God, family, and hockey.     In that order. No doubt about it.     The Beezer also a Believer By Rob McKinney     Florida Panther's goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck has a lot in common with Curtis Joseph.     Like Cujo, he has a catchy nickname (The Beezer) and wears a mask decorated with a fierce-looking animal. He also was chosen to represent his country, the United States, at the Olympic games in Nagano. Like Joseph, he ended up cheer-leading more than playing.     John Vanbiesbrouck made his NHL goalie debut at just 18, and now at 35 is a 15-year veteran. For years he's been among the best. In 1996 he backstopped his underdog Panthers all the way to the Stanley Cup finals. He's the backbone of his team, just as Joseph is, and as a result both are the highest paid players on their team.     At the end of the season they'll both become unrestricted free agents, free to sign with any team interested in their services. Both can expect teams to offer them multi-million dollar contracts. And both have big decisions to make.     But both say that deciding their career futures isn't the most important decision they've ever made. That decision was a spiritual one -- a decision to give God control of their lives.     Interestingly, the wives of the two players were first to accept the Lord as their personal Saviour. Both players say that they saw changes in their wives as a result of their decision. And after much prayer on the part of their wives, both hockey stars eventually made that decision too. Now both goalies put God rather than goaltending at the top of their life- priority list.     Vanbiesbrouck's wife Rosalinde began her search for the Lord in 1993 after John began playing for the Florida Panthers after ten seasons with the New York Rangers. With a new home, schools, and friends, and little support around her, she began attending a church in their new hometown. It was there that she made a decision to put her trust in Jesus Christ. Soon after, she began to talked to John about Jesus.     "I just had to tell him what was going on in my life," says Rosalinde. She also prayed that God would open John's heart to the new life she had discovered.     "I prayed a lot for him." she told Sports Spectrum magazine. Eventually, John made a decision to accept Jesus' death on the cross for his own sins.     "He found me more than I found Him," John told Sports Spectrum.     "I feel consumed by God. It's a special feeling. You don't know it until you are spiritually born, and that is a very special thing. It is having a relationship with Christ."     Though he's still a relatively new Christian, John is none the less sharing his faith publicly. Recently he was featured on a Billy Graham television crusade seen by millions of viewers.     "When it comes to Jesus Christ, when He came into my life, He brought the power of patience, to cast all of my anxieties onto Him," John said on the program. "I am growing more and more to understand and appreciate that a relationship with Jesus is the most precious thing that we have." 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