Frank Patrick (ice hockey)

Francis Alexis "Frank" Patrick (December 21, 1885 – June 29, 1960) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player, NHL head coach and manager. Raised in Montreal, Patrick moved to British Columbia with his family in 1907 to establish a lumber company. The family sold the company in 1910 and used the proceeds to establish the Pacific Coast Hockey Association (PCHA), the first major professional hockey league in the West. Patrick, who also served as president of the league, would take control of the Vancouver Millionaires, serving as a player, coach, and manager of the team. It was in the PCHA that Patrick would introduce many innovations to hockey that remain today, including uniform numbers, the blue line, the penalty shot, among others. His Millionaires won the Stanley Cup in 1915, the first team west of Manitoba to do so, and played for the Cup again in 1918.

Frank Patrick
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1950
Patrick while a member of the Vancouver Millionaires, 1913–1914
Born (1885-12-21)December 21, 1885
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Died June 29, 1960(1960-06-29) (aged 74)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Defence
Played for Vancouver Maroons (PCHA)
Vancouver Millionaires (PCHA)
Nelson Hockey Club (WKHL)
Renfrew Creamery Kings (NHA)
Montreal Victorias (ECAHA)
Playing career 19041924

In 1926 the league, which had since been renamed the Western Canada Hockey League and later Western Hockey League due to mergers, was sold to the eastern-based National Hockey League (NHL). Patrick would later join the NHL in 1933, serving first in an executive role for the league and then as coach for the Boston Bruins from 1934 to 1936. His brother Lester Patrick was also a professional ice hockey player, coach and executive.

Early life

Patrick was the son of a wealthy lumberman Joseph Patrick, who invented the idea of putting numbers on players' uniforms.[1]

Newsy Lalonde, Frank Patrick, and Cyclone Taylor while members of the Renfrew Creamery Kings, 1910.

While attending McGill University, Patrick played hockey from 1904 to 1908, winning the Queen's Cup championship in 1905 alongside his brother Lester Patrick. In 1907 Patrick moved with the rest of his family to Nelson, British Columbia, where Joseph established a lumber company. Patrick would spend the next several winters there, except for 1909–10 when he and his brother Lester joined the Renfrew Creamery Kings of the newly formed National Hockey Association (NHA). Well-regarded nationally as one of the top defenders in hockey, Patrick was paid $2,000 for the season, an extravagant amount at the time.[2] He scored 8 goals in 11 games for Renfrew, though the team failed to win the championship despite having some of the biggest names in the sport.[3]

PCHA

Frank and Lester helped found the Pacific Coast Hockey Association. He played for the Vancouver Millionaires of that league from 1911–1918, winning a Stanley Cup in 1915. He also served as PCHA president until 1924. In addition, he was the owner of the Vancouver Amazons women's hockey team.

NHL

In 1926 the WCHA was sold to the NHL, and Patrick retired from hockey. However he returned to the game in 1933 when he became the managing director of the NHL in. Art Ross, manager and coach of the Boston Bruins, asked Patrick to replace him as coach of the Bruins in September, 1934, offering a salary of $10,500.[4] Patrick would coach the team for two seasons, being relieved of the position following the Bruins loss in the 1936 playoffs, amid allegations that he was drunk during the Bruins series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.[5]

Among Patrick's contributions to hockey were the blue line, the penalty shot, the boarding penalty, and the raising of the stick when a goal is scored, which he suggested. He also made a prophecy: "I dream of the day that teams will dress two goaltenders for each game." This became a reality in the NHL in 1964–65.

Later life

Frank Patrick was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 1950.[6] Patrick is also a member of the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, elected in 1966.

On June 29, 1960, Frank died of a heart attack exactly four weeks after his brother Lester died, also of a heart attack.

Contributions to women's ice hockey

As early as January 1916, Frank and his brother Lester talked of the formation of a women's league to complement the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.[7] The proposal included teams from Vancouver, Victoria, Portland and Seattle. The league never formed but in January 1917, the Vancouver News-Advertiser reported that wives of the Seattle Metropolitans had assembled a team. In February 1921, Frank announced a women's international championship series that would be played in conjunction with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association.[8]

Career statistics

Playing

SeasonTeamLeagueRegular seasonPlayoffs
GGAPtsPIMGGAPtsPIM
1903–04Montreal VictoriasCAHL54150----------
1904–05Montreal WestmountCAHL24040----------
1905–06McGill UniversityCIAU36060----------
1906–07McGill UniversityCIAU460612----------
1907–08Montreal VictoriasECAHA87296----------
1908–09Nelson HCBCBHL59090----------
1909–10Renfrew Creamery KingsNHA1180823----------
1910–11Nelson HCBCBHL30000----------
1911–12Vancouver MillionairesPCHA15230230----------
1912–13Vancouver MillionairesPCHA15230230----------
1913–14Vancouver MillionairesPCHA141282017----------
1914–15Vancouver MillionairesPCHA16119203----------
1914–15Vancouver MillionairesSt. Cup----------32130
1915–16Vancouver MillionairesPCHA83143----------
1916–17Vancouver MillionairesPCHA2313132630----------
1917–18Vancouver MillionairesPCHA11010----------
1922–23Vancouver MillionairesPCHA20110----------
1923–24Vancouver MillionairesPCHA40110----------

Coaching

SeasonTeamRegular seasonPlayoffs
GWLOTLPtsFinishResult
1911–12Vancouver Millionaires15780142ndOut of playoff
1912–13Vancouver Millionaires14770142ndOut of playoff
1913–14Vancouver Millionaires16790143rdOut of playoff
1914–15Vancouver Millionaires171340261stWon Stanley Cup
1915–16Vancouver Millionaires18990182ndOut of playoff
1916–17Vancouver Millionaires231490282ndOut of playoff
1917–18Vancouver Millionaires18990182ndWon playoff vs Seattle, lost in Stanley Cup Final
1918–19Vancouver Millionaires201280241stLost in playoff to Seattle
1924–25Vancouver Maroons2812160245thOut of playoffs
1925–26Vancouver Maroons3010181226thOut of playoffs
1929–30Vancouver Lions362088481stDefeated Portland in League Final
1934-35Boston Bruins4826166581st in AmericanLost in semi-final
1935-36Boston Bruins4822206502nd in AmericanLost in semi-final
NHL Total96483612 

See also

Notes

  1. Whitehead 1980, p. 127.
  2. Cosentino 1990, p. 56.
  3. Cosentino 1990, p. 171.
  4. Whitehead 1980, p. 204.
  5. Whitehead 1980, pp. 211–212.
  6. Hockey Hall of Fame 2003, p. 20.
  7. Women on Ice: The Early Years of Women's Hockey in Western Canada, Wayne Norton, p.120, Ronsdale Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55380-073-6
  8. Women on Ice: The Early Years of Women's Hockey in Western Canada, Wayne Norton, p.115, Ronsdale Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55380-073-6

References

  • Bowlsby, Craig H. (2012), Empire of Ice: The Rise and Fall of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association, 1911–1926, Vancouver: Knights of Winter, ISBN 978-0-9691705-6-3
  • Cosentino, Frank (1990), The Renfrew Millionaires: The Valley Boys of Winter 1910, Burnstown, Ontario: General Store Publishing House, ISBN 0-919431-35-6
  • Hockey Hall of Fame (2003), Honoured Members: Hockey Hall of Fame, Bolton, Ontario: Fenn Publishing, ISBN 1-55168-239-7
  • McKinley, Michael (2000), Putting a Roof on Winter: Hockey's Rise from Sport to Spectacle, Vancouver: Greystone Books, ISBN 1-55054-798-4
  • Whitehead, Eric (1980), The Patricks: Hockey's Royal Family, New York City: Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-15662-6
  • Wong, John Chi-Kit (2005), Lords of the Rinks: The Emergence of the National Hockey League 1875–1936, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-8520-2
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Art Ross
Head coach of the Boston Bruins
1934-36
Succeeded by
Art Ross
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