Patrick, Lester
Hockey
b. Dec. 30, 1883, Drummondville, Quebec
d. June 1, 1960
After starring in hockey at McGill University in Montreal and in the Canadian Amateur Hockey League, Lester Patrick joined the Brandon, Manitoba, team in the North West Hockey League. As a rushing defenseman, he helped lead Brandon to an unsuccessful challenge for the Stanley Cup in 1904.
In 1905, he joined the Montreal Wanderers. They won the Stanley Cup from the Ottawa Senators the following year and defended it successfully in 1907. Patrick then went to British Columbia, where his father owned a lumber business. He and his brother Frank signed with the Renfrew Millionaires of the National Hockey Association in 1910.
With financial backing from their millionaire father, the Patrick brothers formed their own league, the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, in 1911. The league signed several top stars from the National Hockey Association, including Cyclone Taylor and Newsy Lalonde. In 1913, the PCHA introduced blue lines and added assists to scoring figures.
The Patricks built the first two artificial ice rink in North America, in Victoria and Vancouver, and Lester campaigned for years to have artificial ice in all major hockey cities, a goal that was finally achieved in 1926.
Lester played for various teams in the PCHA and he was the player coach of the Victoria Cougars in 1924-25, when they won the Stanley Cup, the last team from outside the National Hockey League to do so.
Patrick became the coach of the New York Rangers in 1926 and guided the team to Stanley Cup championships in 1928 and 1933. After the heavily favored Montreal Maroons had beaten the Rangers in the first game of the 1928 finals, goalie Lorne Chabot was hit in the eye by a shot with the score tied 1-1 in the second game. The 44-year-old Patrick took over in goal. As a defenseman during his playing days, he had often played goal when the regular goalie went to the penalty box. He shut out Montreal until the Rangers won in overtime. Chabot returned for the third game and the Rangers went on to an upset victory in five games.
Known as the "Silver Fox," Patrick also took the titles of vice president and general manager in 1932. He left the Rangers after the 1938-39 season to operate the minor-league Victoria Cougars until his retirement in 1954. In 1966, the NHL established the Lester Patrick Trophy, which is awarded for "outstanding service to hockey in the United States."