On most Sunday nights, on the top floor of a parking garage in Arlington, Virginia, a few dozen men gather at an ice rink to play hockey. It’s part of the area’s adult recreational league – also known as a beer league for the beverage consumed before, during and after games. The puck drops at 9:30 p.m.
During a recent championship match, fewer than 20 people were in the stands, mostly friends and family of the players. Along with three federal agents.
On the ice that night, as he is most Sunday nights, wearing number 22 and playing defense was FBI Director Kash Patel. Long before he rose to become President Donald Trump’s FBI chief, Patel was a mainstay in the Arlington hockey league, playing for roughly a decade.
Amid some of the former college and professional players in the league, Patel’s talent is on the lower end of the spectrum, according to those who have played against him. Some described his game as a stay-at-home, shot-blocking defender – not someone who is likely to impress with his skating or scoring ability.
Patel, 46, is a passionate hockey fan. He played in high school on Long Island and volunteered as a coach for DC-area youth teams. Along with his Sunday night games, he also plays in the annual Congressional Hockey Challenge, which pits lawmakers and administration officials against lobbyists. His personal X account is filled almost entirely with hockey tweets.
But his rise from a mid-level Justice Department lawyer, to a fairly anonymous House committee aide and White House official during the first Trump administration, to the highly scrutinized leader of the country’s top law enforcement agency, has afforded Patel more access to his favorite sport.
He’s become friendly with several current and former NHL players. When Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was chasing Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record last year, Patel attended the final two games at the invitation of Gretzky, who has remained friends with Trump despite backlash in his native Canada.
The FBI director’s cultivation of the hockey elite has stirred controversy, particularly after a video of him chugging beer in the Team USA locker room went viral after the Olympics gold-medal game – raising questions about Patel’s use of FBI resources for what appeared to be a fan’s personal trip. The FBI has maintained that Patel was in Milan in an official capacity and held six public events and two classified events, including meetings related to the Olympic security apparatus.
Patel’s mixing of work and pleasure has divided some FBI employees and also people around the NHL – a league that has historically tried to stay away from the political fray but has now had to navigate the fraught publicity of Patel’s hockey fandom.
The NHL has tried to thread the needle between welcoming him at games, like any other fan, and not highlighting his presence so as to not make a political statement, officials said.
The video of Patel enthusiastically downing beer in the locker room at the Olympics has also drawn renewed scrutiny after The Atlantic reported last week that Patel has alarmed some colleagues with alleged episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences. Patel on Monday filed a $250 million defamation suit against the magazine and the reporter, Sarah Fitzpatrick.
Patel addressed the allegations at a press conference Tuesday. Speaking alongside acting attorney general Todd Blanche, Patel lashed out at reporters, defended his time as FBI director and reminded everyone of the importance of hockey in his life.
“I’m like an everyday American who loves his country, loves the sport of hockey. And champions my friends when they raise a gold medal and invite me in to celebrate,” Patel said
Inside the FBI, some employees regularly make jokes about Patel’s hockey obsession, along with his penchant for flying on FBI aircraft. If the director is skipping a meeting, it’s likely because he’s going to a hockey game, they sometimes joke. (The FBI director is required to use the official plane even for personal travel.)
In response to questions from CNN, FBI spokesman Ben Williamson said in a statement, “Director Patel took a total of 17 days off during his first year on the job – which is less than half the number his predecessor took over the same period.”
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