James Patrick (born June 14, 1963) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for the Winnipeg Ice of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WHL).

Playing career

After a successful collegiate career at the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of ...

, Patrick represented

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

. After the Olympics, Patrick signed his first professional contract on March 5, 1984 with the

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

, and made his NHL debut two days later in Minnesota. Patrick scored his first NHL goal on March 17, 1984, in Philadelphia. Patrick enjoyed ten productive seasons in New York before being traded to the

Hartford Whalers The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association (WHA) from 1972 until 1979, and in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1979 to ...

and then to the

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

during the 1993–94 season. After several years in Calgary, Patrick signed with the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent after the 1997–98 season. Though he was chosen to play in the

1987 Canada Cup The 1987 Labatt Canada Cup was a professional international ice hockey tournament held from August 28 to September 15, 1987. The finals took place in Montreal on September 11 and Hamilton, on September 13 and September 15, and were won by Team ...

and many other international events, Patrick was never selected to the NHL All Star game. He ranks high among defencemen in both all times game played (1280) and total points (639). Patrick set a record (since broken) for career games played by a Team Canada player with 40 career games, breaking the previous record of 37 games in 2002. On September 8, 2005, Patrick announced his retirement from the NHL at the age of 42. He was immediately named to the Sabres' staff as a skill development coach. However, he left the team before the season to play in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Deutsche Eishockey Liga The Deutsche Eishockey Liga (for sponsorship reasons called "PENNY Deutsche Eishockey Liga") (; English: ''German Ice Hockey League'') or DEL, is a German professional ice hockey league and the highest division in German ice hockey. Founded in ...

with the Frankfurt Lions.

Coaching career

Patrick joined the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

as assistant coach in 2006. He made his debut as head coach in February 2012, when

Lindy Ruff Lindy Cameron Ruff (born February 17, 1960) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach who is the head coach for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Ruff was previously the head coach of the Dallas Stars of the NHL, and al ...

was incapable of coaching due to an injury. After Ruff was fired in February 2013, Patrick remained with the Sabres' coaching staff until the end of the season, and then was let go. After the 2013 season he re-joined Ruff as an assistant coach with the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

. At the end of the 2016–17 regular season, Patrick was let go when the Stars elected not to renew Ruff's expiring contract, after the team missed the playoffs. On June 6, 2017, it was announced that Patrick was named as the head coach for the

Kootenay Ice The Kootenay Ice (officially stylized as ICE) were a major junior ice hockey team based in Cranbrook, British Columbia, and competed in the Western Hockey League (WHL). The team played its home games at Western Financial Place. The franchise wa ...

of the

(WHL).

Personal life

Patrick is half Ukrainian and half English. His father,

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

(born as Stepan Patrebka), was the child of Ukrainian immigrants from the Lviv region, and played for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. Patrick is the brother of Steve and the uncle of

Nolan Patrick Nolan James Patrick (born September 19, 1998) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted second overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. P ...

. In 2014, Patrick was charged with assault stemming from a domestic incident, while working as an assistant coach for the Dallas Stars.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Coaching record

Awards and honours

*Canadian Tier II Player of Year (1981) *

SJHL The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League is a Junior 'A' ice hockey league operating in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and one of nine member leagues of the Canadian Junior Hockey League. Open to North American-born players 20 years ...

All-Star First Team (1981) *

Championship (1981) *

Centennial Cup The Centennial Cup is an annual ice hockey tournament organized by Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL), which determines the national champion of junior A ice hockey. It is a ten-team round robin featuring the winners of ...

First Team All-Star (1981) *

Championship (1981) *

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college athletic conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's ice hockey-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated a ...

Freshman of the Year (1982) *

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Championship (1982) *Played in the World Junior Championships for Team Canada (1983) *Played in the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

for Team Canada (1983, 1987, 1989, 1998, & 2002) *Played in the Sarajevo Olympics for Team Canada (1984) *Played in the

Canada Cup The Canada Cup (french: Coupe Canada) was an invitational international ice hockey tournament held on five occasions between 1976 and 1991. The brainchild of Toronto lawyer Alan Eagleson, the tournament was created to meet demand for a true world ...

Tournament for Team Canada (1987) *Honoured Member of the

Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame The Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum for ice hockey in Manitoba, located on the main level of the Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1985, when the first honoured members were named an ...

* Member of the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

(2008) * In the 2009 book ''100 Ranger Greats'', was ranked No. 44 all-time of the 901 New York Rangers who had played during the team's first 82 seasons

References

External links

*
Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
a
Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrick, James 1963 births Living people AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans Buffalo Sabres captains Buffalo Sabres coaches Buffalo Sabres players Calgary Flames players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian ice hockey coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Dallas Stars coaches Frankfurt Lions players Hartford Whalers players Ice hockey people from Manitoba Ice hockey players at the 1984 Winter Olympics Kootenay Ice coaches National Hockey League assistant coaches National Hockey League first-round draft picks NCAA men's ice hockey national champions New York Rangers draft picks New York Rangers players North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players Olympic ice hockey players of Canada Sportspeople from Winnipeg