Born in Drummondville, Quebec, Patrick moved to Montreal with his family at a young age and grew up there, and started playing hockey at this time while also working for his father's lumber company.

Along with Frank, Patrick would introduce many innovations in the PCHA that remain in hockey today, including the blue line, the penalty shot, and tracking assists, among others.

When the WHL, as the PCHA had been renamed in 1924, was sold to the NHL in 1926, Patrick was hired by the expansion New York Rangers to be their coach and manager.

[1] Drummondville was predominantly French-speaking and Catholic at the time, making the Anglophone and Methodist Patrick family a minority in the town.

[a] In 1887 the family moved 9 miles (14 km) to Carmell Hill, where Joe bought a half-interest in a general store with William Mitchell.

[8] Patrick developed into a strong hockey player and would frequently be invited as a ringer to play in important games.

He was also invited to tryout for the Montreal Shamrocks, a top senior team in the city; however as this would have meant leaving the university, Patrick declined the offer, following the advice of his father.

[11] The company was downsized though and so in June 1903 Patrick decided to move to Calgary in Western Canada in an effort to work on cattle ranches.

Upon arriving in Calgary he found the lifestyle was not suitable for him, and instead joined the Canadian Pacific Railway as a rodman and chainman on a survey gang, working until the autumn of that year.

While points and cover-points were not expected to contribute much to offensive actions, Patrick tried to carry the puck up the ice during a game, scoring a goal.

[19] The CAHL was disbanded prior to the start of the 1905–06 season and replaced by a new league, the Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association (ECAHA).

[22] The following season the Wanderers again finished first in the ECAHA, though lost the Cup in a challenge against the Kenora Thistles, champions of the Manitoba Hockey Association, in January 1907.

[26] Patrick and Tommy Phillips, who had played for Kenora, never even reached Edmonton; they met their team in Winnipeg on its way east for the Cup challenge.

[31] Several teams began to send offers to both Patrick brothers, who had decided to return east for the winter and play hockey there.

[35] Taylor would later recall he was quite impressed by the brothers knowledge and views, stating that "Frank in particular had an amazing grasp of the science of hockey, and they were both already dreaming about changes that would improve the game".

[37] With this money Joe solicited ideas from his family on what to invest in, and Frank suggested they establish their own hockey league, one based in BC and that they controlled.

[39] The initial plan was to place teams in large cities in Western Canada, with one each in Vancouver and Victoria (both in BC), and one in Edmonton and Calgary (both in Alberta).

[48][49] Prior to the start of the 1913–14 Patrick broke a bone in his left arm, keeping him from playing until mid-way through the season, though he continued to serve as coach.

[50] Victoria started the season badly, but with Patrick returning they finished strong and won the league championship, with 10 wins in 16 games.

[51] With a new agreement reached between the PCHA and NA, Victoria played the NHA champions, the Toronto Blueshirts, for the Cup.

The reason for the move is not clear, though MacLeod speculates that Patrick thought the military may allow the team to continue to use it, which was not to be the case.

After starting goaltender Lorne Chabot suffered an eye injury when he was hit by the puck in the middle of the second period, Patrick inserted himself into the game as the Rangers' new netminder, telling the players "Boys, don't let an old man down."

However, Maroons manager-coach Eddie Gerard refused to give permission for the Rangers to use Alec Connell, the Ottawa Senators' netminder who was in the stands, as well as minor-leaguer Hugh McCormick.

[76] However the onset of the Second World War in 1939 had depleted the Rangers, who saw many players enlist in the armed forces of both Canada and the United States.

[85] As a coach Patrick described his philosophy to reporters: "It is incumbent upon you initially to build up their morale and then maintain it, and before you do that you must have acquired their confidence in your judgement, and you must know the man.

They introduced the blue line, the forward pass, and the playoff system, a change adopted by other leagues and sports around the world.

After a suggestion by their father Joe, they began using numbers on players' sweaters and in programs to help fans identify the skaters.

[90] In 1933 Patrick started hosting Rangers' training camps in Winnipeg, in a further effort to expand the search for talent beyond the provinces of Ontario and Quebec where the NHL's two Canadian teams (the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens) were located.

[96] In January 1916, the Patrick brothers talked of forming a women's league to complement the PCHA and occupy dates for their arenas in Vancouver and Victoria.

The league never formed but in January 1917, the Vancouver News-Advertiser reported that wives of the Seattle Metropolitans had assembled a team.