This Hoo Is Running a Pro Hockey Team. Darden Put Him on a Path to the NHL

Chris Patrick would scratch his inherited hockey itch playing in an adult league at Main Street Arena on the Downtown Mall and catching Washington Capitals games on regional television. He was a student at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business then, trying to forge a path different than the generations before him.

“I didn’t want to be the kid that just waltzes in from college and gets a job from Dad,” Patrick said.

Patrick’s father is Dick Patrick, an executive in the Capitals organization since 1982. Patrick’s grandfather, Muzz Patrick, was a player, coach and general manager of the New York Rangers. Four other members of Patrick’s family – great-grandfather Lester, great-granduncle Frank, granduncle Lynn and cousin Craig – are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

On July 8, 18 years after he graduated from the Darden School, Chris became the next Patrick to make a significant splash in the family sport when he was named the seventh general manager in Capitals history.

Family history in the making. Dick (right) and Chris become the 6th and 7th members of the Patrick Family to win the #StanleyCup. @Capitals Dicks’ Grandfather Lester who won it 6 times..last one here with the @NYRangers in 1940 @NHL @HockeyHallFame pic.twitter.com/Ssq7qPpJRu

— Philip Pritchard (@keeperofthecup) July 19, 2018

While landing a high-profile NHL gig wasn’t his intention when Patrick enrolled in the Darden School in the fall of 2004, the experience on North Grounds put him on his way.

Patrick played hockey and graduated from Princeton University. The political science major and economics minor was early in his finance career – first at an investment bank and later a venture private equity firm – in Baltimore when he sensed, among his peers, a gap in his skills he hoped a superior business education could fill.

“A lot of the investment professionals I worked with had MBAs,” Patrick said. “When we’d invest in companies, they were taking board seats and really helping companies grow.

“I felt like I didn’t have the full, complete picture of my job outside of the finance piece and I thought a business school might help round me out.”

The Darden School’s reputation and proximity to his hometown of Oakton attracted Patrick to Charlottesville, where for two years he benefited from the world-renowned institution and its case method approach to instruction.

“It gave me perspective on the different layers to solving an issue,” Patrick said. “Maybe you’re doing a case for a marketing class, but there’s a finance component to it, there’s a conversional component to it, there’s a communications component to it. It helped me get that well-rounded understanding of all these different aspects of things that need to be in sync when you’re looking to address a problem.

“Also, as a younger guy in the finance world, I would normally defer to my superiors in meeting situations. But doing those cases, it gave me confidence to speak up and have an opinion and have the evidence to back what I was saying.”

Patrick said he “got a little something” out of each Darden School course, but it was an entrepreneurship course his final year, in which students routinely heard successful alumni or local CEOs describe their paths to founding their companies, that sprinkled the breadcrumbs for a return to the family business.

The guest lecturers often spoke with a drive that resonated with Patrick.

“Their view was the money didn’t matter and they just wanted to follow their passion,” Patrick recalled. “And if they followed their passion, everything would work out.”

The lightbulb went off in Patrick’s head. The 10 p.m. adult league games were fun, but if an opportunity presented itself, it was time for a permanent reunion with hockey.

“I’ve been passionate about this my whole life,” Patrick thought. “Hopefully, like some of these entrepreneurs I’m listening to, it works out well for me. But at least I won’t have any regrets following what I love most.”

Hockey is the family business for the Patricks. Chris’ father, Dick, far left, is the Capitals’ chair and has worked for the franchise since 1982. (Washington Capitals photo)

After graduation, Patrick worked in a finance position for Constellation Energy until the company, in connection with the 2008 housing market crisis, began changing in a way that made Patrick uncertain about his future role.

That’s when he couldn’t fight the allure of his passion any longer.

“I was 32,” Patrick said. “I had an opportunity to stay there (Constellation Energy) and see how things played out, but I decided I’d make the move back into hockey. If I didn’t do it then, I was never going to do it.”

Patrick worked his way through the ranks of the Capitals organization over the last 16 years, beginning in player development with the team’s minor league affiliate in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

“He started at the bottom,” Capitals owner Ted Leonsis told The Washington Post, “making no money.”

Patrick was the Capitals’ director of player personnel in 2018 when the team won the first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He begins his first season as general manager – the vital position in a professional sports organization that, among other high-leverage tasks, oversees roster construction – on Saturday when the Caps host the New Jersey Devils.

A forever Wahoo who misses grabbing pizza at Mellow Mushroom on the Corner and still pulls for the Cavalier men’s basketball team, Patrick remains grateful for the years he spent away from hockey while in Charlottesville.

“I have not been back a lot,” Patrick said, “but my daughters are starting to get into the college-age years, so I’m hopeful that they’ll both consider UVA. I’d love to take them on a visit.”

This article was originally published in UVA Today.