From his office in Washington, D.C., Dick Patrick, president of the Washington Capitals, recalls the home his grandfather Lester Patrick lived in on Linden Avenue in Fairfield.
B次元官网网址淚t was before my time, but my father told me stories,B次元官网网址� Dick says. His father, Muzz, a Canadian boxing champ turned pro hockey player, was born and raised in Victoria. Muzz and brother Lynn won the Stanley Cup while playing for Lester, when the latter coached the New York Rangers in 1940.
Lester had previously won the Stanley Cup as a player and coach, his name engraved multiple times upon it. But even though 1940 was the first time Muzz and Lynn won hockeyB次元官网网址檚 Holy Grail, it was the second time their names were engraved on it.
B次元官网网址淚 guess back in 1933 there wasnB次元官网网址檛 really a protocol for what to do with the Stanley Cup,B次元官网网址� Dick says. B次元官网网址淭he story my dad told me is, after the Rangers won it, Lester kept it in his basement for the summer. (Muzz and Lynn) wanted their names in it too. Being teenagers, they etched their names into it with a nail.
B次元官网网址淭hey got in a lot of trouble for that.B次元官网网址�
Back in 1911, brothers Lester and Frank were supported by dad Joe Patrick when they used the familyB次元官网网址檚 lumber fortune to create the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and build two arenas, one in Vancouver and one in Oak Bay.
The league ran successfully until 1926. Lester then moved on to the more promising NHL and grew to become one of New YorkB次元官网网址檚 most legendary characters, the Silver Fox. He was a newspaper darling and ran the New York Rangers and then Madison Square Gardens. Lester returned to Victoria each summer and never sold his house in Fairfield. In 1949 he formed the Victoria Cougars minor hockey team.
Frank followed a similar route, coaching the Boston Bruins in the 1930s before retiring to Vancouver. Both passed away in 1960.
But Lester and Frank were only two of six from their generation. Also living in James Bay were brother Ted and sisters Lucynda (Cynda), Dora and Myrtle. It was said that if Ted hadnB次元官网网址檛 suffered a serious leg injury in a childhood accident, he too would have won the Stanley Cup.
Proud to be Patricks
Away from the rink, but still in Victoria, the family continued to flourish.
Cynda Patrick followed her parentsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� Joe and Grace B次元官网网址� religious upbringing, and married reverend John Wesley Miller.
B次元官网网址淐ynda was a church organist and vocal soloist, not uncommon in that day when you were married to a minister,B次元官网网址� says Gordon Miller, grandson of Cynda and one of VictoriaB次元官网网址檚 remaining Patricks.
B次元官网网址淢y father was named Frank Patrick Miller, after my great uncle. My father carried a keen interest in the family (genealogy) and led the historian patriarch position in the family.B次元官网网址�
That keen interest is part of an ongoing pride in the Patrick name, which Miller admits is due in part to the familyB次元官网网址檚 hockey fame.
B次元官网网址淲as there pressure to be interested in hockey? Yes. And we all follow it, to an extent,B次元官网网址� Miller says. B次元官网网址淲as there pressure to play? No.B次元官网网址�
Some things have passed down, however. Like his grandmother, Miller is a musician, a piano instructor and music master at Oak Bay United Church.
Miller says the family continues to honour the Patrick heritage. For example, his sister is named Cynda and he has a son and daughter with Patrick and Patricia in their names.
B次元官网网址淭he extended family still gets together regularly, on the Island and mainland. We still feel a strong family connection. I think itB次元官网网址檚 safe to say itB次元官网网址檚 the notoriety of the hockey Patricks that is part of what keeps us together. Do we talk about hockey when we get together? Not much.B次元官网网址�
Miller grew up in Ottawa and his migration to Victoria is parallel to that of Joe and Grace PatrickB次元官网网址檚 over 100 years ago.
It started in Oak Bay
When the Patrick family came to Victoria, they came with a dream to start a professional hockey league.
On Jan. 2, 1912, LesterB次元官网网址檚 Victoria Senators hosted the New Westminster Royals at the brand new arena, which was later known as Patrick Arena, on an out-of-the-way piece of property in Oak Bay.
Monday (Jan. 2) marks the 100th anniversary of that game, one that transformed the Patrick family name into hockey royalty. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 just the first game in Victoria, it was the first game of the PCHA, which existed until 1926 when it merged with the Western Canada Hockey League.
Thirty-seven years later, in 1949, during the excitement over the new Memorial Arena construction on Blanshard Street, Victoria Daily Times sports writer Archie Wills ran a summary of hockey history in the city. He revisited an original game report, describing how the red, white and blue coloured Senators lost that first game 8-3 to the dazzling Royals, in their black and orange jerseys.
They shaped the game
Despite giving so much to the game, there will be little fanfare for the Patricks on the PCHAB次元官网网址檚 centennial anniversary. The WHL Victoria Royals will play at home Monday against the Calgary Hitmen, but thatB次元官网网址檚 only by coincidence.
Since the passing of Frank and Lester in 1960, their role in changing the sport has been relegated to the historical archives.
But it was during the summers in the family home on Michigan Street that Frank would return from running the Vancouver Millionaires. He and Lester were rarely satisfied with the flow of the game, and often made changes, shaping hockey as its known today.
Frank is credited with introducing the blue line/offsides and raising the stick in celebration of a goal, and Lester with installing the red line. These rules were necessary, as the PCHA used forward passes, which the NHL didnB次元官网网址檛 adopt until 1928-29.
Together, they hashed out even more rules, including numbers on jerseys, an assortment of penalties and the penalty shot.
LesterB次元官网网址檚 Senators became the Aristocrats and eventually the Cougars. It is said, in Victoria sports writer Eric WhiteheadB次元官网网址檚 book The Patricks: HockeyB次元官网网址檚 royal family, that when Lester sold the Cougars team to Detroit (Cougars/Falcons/Red Wings), the buyers were shocked when he revealed the contracts were 100 per cent verbal.
sports@vicnews.com
