By Kevin Scott
GREAT FALLS, Mont., August 4, 2024 — Charles Marion Russell (CMR) High School in Great Falls, Montana announced their second class of Rustler Legends Hall of Famers, and a former Great Falls American hockey player made the list.
Patrick Dwyer, a 2001 graduate of CMR High School, is the first and only prep sports athlete from Great Falls to play in the National Hockey League (NHL) is one of the new inductees.
He also played most of his junior hockey career in Montana including the Great Falls Americans (1999-2001). The 40-year-old Great Falls native led the Americans to 33 career wins and the American West Hockey League (AWHL) championship before heading off to play collegiately for Western Michigan University located in Kalamazoo, Michigan (2001-2005) where he was a team captain during his final season for the Broncos.
The Great Falls Montana native scored 94 goals and dished out 102 assists (196 points) across 345 AHL games with the Chicago Wolves (2005-2006), Albany River Rats (2006-2010) and the Charlotte Checkers (2016-2017). Dwyer also played three seasons overseas starting in the 2015-2016 season with the MODO Hockey (Örnsköldsvik, Sweden) in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He also spent time with the Sønderjyske in Denmark (2017-18), and the Belfast Giants in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) during the 2018-19 season.
Patrick was selected in the fourth round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Atlanta Thrasher (now the Winnipeg Jets). The Rustler Hall of
Famer played right wing and spent his entire professional career with the Carolina Hurricanes NHL squad from 2008-2015 scoring 42 goals and dishing out 51 assists in 416 games.
After his playing days, he has been a hockey coach spending time in the American Hockey League’s (AHL), which is a developmental league to the NHL, serving in coaching roles with the Charlotte Checkers (2019-2020) and the Chicago Wolves (2020-23). He was set to join the Iowa Wild in July 2023 before taking a position with Minnesota’s professional team. He is currently an assistant coach with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild since November 2023. Click here for the full press release for Patrick Dwyer’s hiring for the Minnesota Wild.
In the Hall of Fame announcement made by his former high school, he joins 12 other players, coaches, and contributors as a member of the Rustler Legends. The Rustler Legend committee members, who are responsible for the upkeep of the CMR Hall of Fame, required the nominees to have 70% of the committee vote and then the selections were sent to the principal for final approval.
Other criteria that needed to be met for each of the new Hall of Fame members included:
Athletes: Montana High School Association (MHSA) Hall of Fame, professional athlete, national team player, World Champion in at least one event, minimum of two years enrolled at CMR High School, All-American status in high school and college (recognized on the national level).
Coaches: National Coaches Hall of Fame, coached at the professional level, Olympic or national team coach, a member of the Montana Coaches Hall of Fame, must be retired from coaching (but still could me an assistant coach) and longevity coaching at CMR may be a consideration.
Legendary Rustlers (Contributors): Contributor needs to have made or is currently making contributions to CMR athletics over a period of time.
The Induction Ceremony will be held during CMR Homecoming Week on Thursday, October 3, 2024, at the CMR Fieldhouse starting at 6:00PM. The CMR football team hosts Billings Skyview at 7:00PM at Memorial Stadium on Friday, October 4, 2024, for the homecoming game.
Click here to read the full list of inductees and story from the Great Falls Tribune.