Kash Patel, Trump’s FBI pick, won’t leave the DC hockey league

Patel, a lawyer and former top intelligence official in the first Trump administration, spent more than a decade as a defenseman in a veritable Northern Virginia men’s hockey league dynasty.

MEET THE NEW CONGRESS: HOUSE AND SENATE FRESHMANS ELECTED TO SERVE NEXT YEAR

Patel, 44, is touring Capitol Hill ahead of the confirmation process, meeting Tuesday with Senators Roger Marshall (R-KS), Steve Daines (R-MT), Tim Scott (R-SC), Dan Sullivan (R- AK), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Rick Scott (R-FL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and new Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), according to the Trump transition team .

And despite the obvious rigors associated with serving as a member of the presidential cabinet and the security details expected with this high-profile role, Patel told the Washington Examiner he has no intention of putting aside his hobby if confirmed.

“I’ve been playing hockey since I was a kid and I’m not going to stop playing if I’m confirmed as the next director of the FBI,” he said in a statement. “I love the sport and decided to give back and had a rewarding experience coaching youth hockey the last time I lived and worked in the DC area.”

Patel’s league is played at the Medstar Iceplex in Northern Virginia, the official training facility of the Washington Capitals, and features significant talent. Most of the league is made up of former college players and there is a long waiting list to join the roster. Former Caps defenseman Karl Alzner has even been known to lace up his skates and take part in games.

Patel, a gritty defender in his own right, won’t wow you with his skills with the stick, according to his own teammates, but he’s exactly the type of “scrappy” player you want on your line.

Jordan Shahin and Tommy Szabo joined Patel on “The Dons” around 2015 and grew closer to the Trump official in the years since. MCIAHL teams play 46 games per season on Sunday nights, and the Dons have won four league championships in the last 10 years. The team also traveled to New York and won gold at the 2019 CAN/AM Lake Placid Challenge Cup, played annually at the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” Olympic Arena.

“The hustle factor is still there,” Shahin said of Patel in an interview. “He’s a tough kid and definitely still wants to be out there.”

Shahin recalled how, during the 2023 league championship, Patel tore his bicep but didn’t tell his teammates at the time and simply continued playing.

“He just celebrated the victory as usual,” he explained. “But then Kash had to have surgery and rehab, so it was a pretty serious injury.”

“He’s a team guy. He’ll block a shot, he’ll take a hit,” Szabo added. “He will get in the dirty areas, work really hard and work really hard. He doesn’t expect a thank you or anything. He goes out and basically does his job, and he fits in well.

Zach Gilhuly, who played wing and center alongside Patel, Shahin and Szabo for three years before moving to New York, said “Kash is holding his own” with the Dons’ former college players.

“He’s in great shape. He shows up excited to play. I mean, sometimes he jumps out of a plane and goes straight to the rink, and you can’t say he was just on a six-hour flight from Vegas,” Gilhuly, who returns to the D.C. area for occasional lacing. with his former team, explained.

“What stands out about Kash’s game is that he is very intelligent. You can tell he’s watched a lot of hockey until he loves the sport, and he knows he’s not the most talented guy, but he knows the right plays to make, so he doesn’t expose yourself.

Gilhuly told Washington Examiner that Patel also organized off-ice events, helping to plan team activities off the ice that helped build camaraderie and team chemistry.

All three of Patel’s teammates humorously mentioned that, despite being a defender, Patel loves to shoot when he’s in the offensive zone, even though he doesn’t have the most reliable slap shot.

“Sometimes it happens head on. Sometimes it’s nice and flat on the ice,” Shahin mentioned. “We usually joke with him about limiting shots.”

It is virtually impossible to talk about Patel without mentioning the string of negative media coverage he has attracted over the past five years.

Patel developed a reputation as one of Trump’s most trusted advisers during his first term. After leading the National Security Council’s counterterrorism directorate, he held senior positions in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Pentagon.

And over the Biden years, Patel has become even more famous, or infamous, depending on who you ask.

Trump’s nominee for FBI director has vowed to prosecute the president-elect’s opponents “criminally or civilly” if they are found to have engaged in interference in the 2020 election. He identified 60 “government gangsters” in the appendix of his 2023 book, all of whom could be prosecuted under the second Trump administration. That list included outgoing FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and even President Joe Biden himself.

“We’re going to go find the conspirators, not just in government, but also in the media,” he said during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. “We warn you all.”

But Patel’s hockey teammates say the media coverage hasn’t changed their perception of their friend and, if anything, has given them more opportunities to mock him in the locker room.

“Recently, it’s obviously gotten to the point where it’s not that we can ignore it, but we’re all having fun. We’re all friends, so we might give him a hard time about a photo of him where he’s maybe not looking his best or something,” Shahin said. “…It’s usually just funny to see our buddy on the news.” It’s definitely never something that’s been considered a problem, and everyone loves playing with it.

Patel’s presence in the league has become a bit of a curiosity for opposing teams.

“I’ve been with other guys in this league, and they’d be like, ‘Oh, you’re on the team with Kash,’ and then they’d ask about Kash, but it’s not, ‘Oh, he is associated with Kash.” this party’ and comments going in that direction,” Gilhuly told the Washington Examiner. “They’re more like, ‘How’s he doing as a guy?’ Yeah, he seems like a cool guy.’ The politics ends there.

“Nothing has ever changed, whether Kash is working at the White House or taking this new position,” Szabo added. “He walks in the door and says, ‘oh, what’s up, man?’ How’s your week going?’

Ultimately, Patel’s teammates say he, like virtually everyone else on the team, views hockey as a way to decompress from work or an alternative form of “therapy,” and they haven’t been at all surprised to discover that he plans to continue playing. on The Dons if confirmed.

“We’re all a little crazy about the fact that we’re going to do it and deal with the bumps and the bruises and, you know, having to come back to reality once it’s over, but it’s such a zen experience,” he said. Shahin said. .

“Basically, it’s like the best fraternity in the world. Everyone who is willing to do it has clearly made an effort. It’s a difficult thing trying to balance everyone’s work, home life, social activities and travel.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“It’s just Kash,” Szabo said simply.