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Their birthdays were ten days apart, just shy of a two-year difference. Lester Patrick was born December 31, 1883, and Frank Patrick was born December 21, 1885. They had grown up together, played hockey together, attended McGill University together, played together for the Renfrew Creamery Kings of the National Hockey Association (NHA), and founded the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHA) together. On December 16, 1934, Lester and Frank Patrick became the first brothers to coach opposing NHL teams. 

Lester had coached and managed the New York Rangers since 1926, and his younger brother Frank had just taken on the same job for the Boston Bruins. In 1933, Lester Patrick led the Rangers to a Stanley Cup championship and Frank joined the NHL as a managing director. Then in September 1934, Art Ross asked Frank to replace him as manager and coach of the Bruins.

The Bruins went on a four-day road trip to New York to play the Americans on December 13 and the Rangers on December 16. They lost both games, the first in overtime and the second in the final two minutes of regulation. By the time they met the Rangers for the first time that season, the Bruins had to make do without their captain, Nels Stewart, who was suspended indefinitely after hitting Dede Klein (left wing for the Americans) over the head with his stick.

Somewhere between 15,000 and a capacity crowd of 16,000 came out to Madison Square Garden to watch the Patrick brothers on opposite benches. The Boston Globe described how they “sat on opposite sides of the rink trying to outsmart each other, the first time they have been cast in enemy roles since eight years ago when they managed Victoria and Vancouver” in the PCHA.

Even without their captain, the Bruins outshot the Rangers throughout the game. Their rookie goalie, Dave Kerr, made 41 saves compared to Boston’s Tiny Thompson blocking 24 shots. Boston’s Dit Clapper lit the lamp first with his goal at the very end of the first period. It would be the only tally they managed. The Rangers tied the game at 2:22 of the second period, when Clapper was in the penalty box for tripping. Cecil Dillon passed first to Frank Boucher, only to receive it back, and then passed to Bill Cook. Cook “drew Thompson to the wrong corner then passed” to his brother, Fred “Bun” Cook, who scored. At 18:19, with less than two minutes remaining on the clock, Dillon scored the game-winner himself.

Frank Patrick took the loss without bitterness. According to the press, he “said he was entirely satisfied with their showing, that the boys had played good hockey, even if it was losing hockey.” Besides, Frank knew the rematch was coming up on December 18. When the Rangers first visited Boston that season, the home team had the advantage. Captain Nels Stewart was back in force, scoring two goals in 30 seconds. Clapper netted the final tally in their 5-3 victory before an audience of 8,000. The Patrick brothers were even.

At the end of the 1934-35 season, the Bruins had won half of their matchups and tied twice. Frank had the better of Lester. However, both teams lost in the semi-finals. 

Frank’s career with the Bruins was short-lived, just two seasons before he was relieved on reports that he was drunk while coaching during playoffs. Lester kept coaching the Rangers until 1939, when he replaced himself with Frank Boucher to focus on general manager duties. He retired as GM in 1946 but was vice president of Madison Square Garden until 1950. Lester was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1947, and Frank joined him in 1950. The brothers only lived ten years more before they both died of heart attacks exactly four weeks apart in June 1960.

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