Game On Magazine 2017 Game On Magazine - Regular Season Edition | Page 78

PROFILE
JAMES
PAT R I C K
James Patrick and
Winnipeg West
B Y PA U L E D M O N D S
Play-by-play radio voice
of the Winnipeg Jets
Photos courtesy Kootenay Ice
JAMES PATRICK is, unarguably,
one of the finest hockey players
ever produced in Winnipeg.
More to the point, he’s
one of fewer than a handful
of elite defensemen to hail
from the city, an exclusive list
that could also include Brian
Engblom, Kevin McCarthy
and Grant Ledyard.
His 20-year playing career
in the National Hockey League
and his 1,280 games would
prove that. Fact is, no other
player from our city has reached
either of those two totals.
And when his playing
career concluded after one
7 8 | G AME ON | R EGU L A R SEASON ED ITION 2018
season in Europe in 2006,
his passion for the game
never wavered. He returned
to the NHL as an assistant
coach with the Buffalo Sabres
the very next season.
It was undoubtedly the
second major chapter in an
already stellar hockey career
and Patrick went on to spend
the next 11 seasons running
the defensive side of the bench
-- seven in Buffalo and another
four with the Dallas Stars.
But when his contract was
not renewed by the team after
last season, he started seeking
other coaching opportunities,
but not exclusively within
the confines of the NHL.
In fact, at the advice
of Stars’ Senior Advisor
Les Jackson, Patrick was
encouraged to pursue a head
coaching job. After more
than a decade as an assistant,
Jackson felt he was ready
for that move in his career.
By June, the former first
round (9th overall) selection
of the New York Rangers
in 1981 had accepted the
head coaching position
with the Western Hockey
League’s Kootenay Ice.
“I’ve never had this lifelong