James Patrick

Background

He is half Ukrainian (father Stephen Patrick (born Stepan Patrebka in Ukraine) played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and was born into a prominent family from the Lviv region) and half English.

Career

Until recently, he was a coach with the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey League. After a successful collegiate career at the University of North Dakota, Patrick represented Canada at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia. After the Olympics, Patrick signed his first professional contract on March 5, 1984, and made his National Hockey League debut two days later in Minnesota.

Patrick scored his first National Hockey League goal on March 17, 1984, in Philadelphia.

Patrick enjoyed ten productive seasons in New York before being traded to the Hartford Whalers and then to the Calgary Flames during the 1993-1994 season. After several years in Calgary, Patrick signed with the Buffalo Sabres as a free agent after the 1997-1998 season.

Though he was chosen to play in the 1987 Canada Cup and many other international events, Patrick was never selected to the National Hockey League All Star game. He ranks high among defenceman 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 previous record of 37 games in 2002.

On September 8, 2005, Patrick announced his retirement from the National Hockey League 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"s Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the Frankfurt Lions.

Patrick joined the Sabres as assistant coach in 2006.

He made his debut as a National Hockey League Head Coach in February 2012, when Lindy Ruff was incapable of coaching due to an injury. After Ruff was fired in February 2013, Patrick stayed remained with Sabres" coaching staff until the end of the season and then was let go.

After the 2013 season he re-joined Lindy Ruff as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars.

Achievements

• Canadian Tier II Player of Year (1981) SJHL All-Star First Team (1981) SJHL Championship (1981) Centennial Cup First Team All-Star (1981) Centennial Cup Championship (1981) WCHA Freshman of the Year (1982) National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship (1982) Played in the World Junior Championships for Team Canada (1983) Played in the World Championships for Team Canada (1983, 1987, 1989, 1998, & 2002) Played in the Sarajevo Olympics for Team Canada (1984) Played in the Canada Cup Tournament for Team Canada (1987) “Honoured Member” of the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame Ranked Number. 44 on the all-time list of New York Rangers in the book 100 Ranger Greats (John Wiley & Sons, 2009).