Lester Patrick’s superstitions

Lester Patrick was a rational man. But even he had his superstitions. Here are a few examples.

Lucky No. 11

In 1918, Lester bought war victory bonds in Victoria and entered a draw for a “beautifully engraved sword taken from an officer killed on the Somme.” Lester asked for ticket No. 11, believing it to be lucky.

“Seven come 11,” said the man who handed him the ticket, adding “The sword would be really useful when you are playing hockey.” [1]

Lester’s lucky number failed him. The winner was No. 247.

This made me realize something: the Patricks are credited with being the first to put numbers on the backs of players. But what numbers did Lester and Frank wear themselves?

According to the Society for International Hockey Research database, Lester wore No. 2 with Victoria in 1911-12 and No. 3 in 1913-14 and 1915-16; No. 3 again with Seattle in 1917-18; and went back to No. 2 with Victoria in 1918-19. (It appears only single-digit numbers were assigned on those teams. But if Lester felt so strongly about No. 11, you would think he could have made it happen.)  

In his lone regular season game with the New York Rangers on March 20, 1927, Lester wore No. 16. There is no word what number he wore in his famous game in goal the following year.

As for Frank, he wore No. 2 with Vancouver in 1911-12, No. 10 in 1912-13, and No. 7 in 1915-16.

Same suit

The New York Rangers went on a long winning streak starting Jan. 3, 1935 and for the next month Lester wore the same old gray suit every day: “He even refused to have it pressed for fear of jinxing his team.” [2]

According to George Dixon of the New York Daily News, Lester “cast imploring glances at his baggy trousers. ‘Pants, protect me!’ he beseeched. ‘If you have any lucky powers prepare to use them now.’”

New York Daily News, Feb. 5, 1935

“I wouldn’t change this suit or this tie for anything,” Lester added. “They stay on me, let the spots grow where they may, as long as we are winning. If we continue unbeaten until the end of the season, I will consider sending the pants to the Smithsonian institute.” [3]

So it was sort of like a playoff beard. The better the team’s fortunes, the grimmer Lester’s outfit.

This routine he apparently repeated a few times. A 1937 Associated Press dispatch claimed Lester was “not superstitious” yet added that “He has been wearing the same duds since the Rangers beat Toronto in the opening playoff game.” [4]

The team won five straight, but when they lost in the final against Detroit, Lester blamed it on the seat falling out of his pants. [5]

Hat on the bed

While I’d never heard of it before, there is or was a common superstition that placing a hat on your bed was bad luck. Lester apparently took it seriously: “He just about throws a fit when anyone places a hat on his bed.” [6]

Lester also weaponized this belief. As he explained, before an exhibition game in Ottawa in December 1937 between the Rangers and Red Dutton’s New York Americans, “I threw my hat on his bed and Red got raging mad — I knew to him that was the worst of omens. If it was bad luck for Red I figured it must be good luck for me. Anyway we won the game.” (The score was 8-4.) [7]

The reporter who quoted Lester described it as a “hat trick.”

Multi-leaf clovers

Lester, of Irish ancestry, carried a cellophane envelope in his wallet that contained four, five, six, and seven-leaf clovers. Yet he continued to insist he wasn’t superstitious. (Son Lynn also taped a four-leaf clover to his stick.) [8]  

Additionally, Lester carried an 1872 American penny that an anonymous fan sent to him with the note: “I’ve got all the good luck I want out of his life. I want you too to have good luck.” [9]

Notes

[1] Victoria Daily Times, Nov. 1, 1918

[2] Brooklyn Citizen, Feb. 19, 1935

[3] New York Daily News, Feb. 5, 1935

[4] Victoria Daily Times, April 7, 1937

[5] Calgary Herald, Dec. 22, 1937

[6] Calgary Albertan, Jan. 10, 1942

[7] Calgary Herald, Dec. 22, 1937

[8] Ibid.

[9] Ibid.