Young Rising Sons drummer Steve Patrick gains popularity on X after sending a touching tweet wishing his cousin Chris luck as the new general manager of the Capitals.

When Chris Patrick was announced as the Washington Capitals’ new general manager shortly before noon, his 35-year-old cousin Steve was just waking up 231 miles north in Brooklyn, New York.

“When I opened up Twitter, his hiring was the first thing I saw,” Steve told RMNB.

Steve then fired off the now-viral tweet, congratulating Chris in his own perfect, self-deprecating way.

“my cousin just became the gm of an nhl team and i just woke up at 11am with a hangover and binged stranger things and ate cheerios,” Steve wrote on X. “being a musician was a choice i made.”

Steve’s relatable, hilarious, and (if you ask Steve) kinda pathetic tweet has garnered nearly 8.5k likes and 858k views in the five hours since being posted. Bleacher Report even re-posted his message on its social media channels.

“It’s gotten out of control!” Steve said bashfully of the response. “I thought like 6 people would see this.”

Steve, nephew of Capitals’ chairman Dick Patrick, is the drummer for Young Rising Sons — a popular rock band that has over 373,000 montly listeners on Spotify (listen to their music here). First founded in 2010, Young Rising Sons also features Andy Tongren as lead singer/guitarist, Julian Dimagiba on bass, and Max Iantorno on guitar. They recently completed a headlining tour across the United States that kicked off at Union Stage in Washington DC on April 12.

Formerly signed to Interscope Records, the band has five songs that have garnered over 10 million-plus listens on Spotify, including SAD (37.9 million), High (28.4), and Carry On (15.7 million).

While virtually every Patrick family member works in hockey, Steve fell in love with music at a young age because of his father and went in his own direction.

“He would play Queen records and Motown records and we had a piano and I would try to figure out melodies as a kid. And I did,” Steve said, shrugging.

Steve’s parents quickly saw his gift for music and bought him a kit when he was 11 years old.

“It’s been my life and passion since then,” Steve said.

Steve and lead singer Andy Tongren are both huge Capitals fans and RMNB readers. They remain deeply passionate hockey fans and play on the same beer-league team, once even playing ball hockey outside 9:30 Club as they waited for their show to start.

If you look closely, you’ll find subtle homages to hockey throughout the band’s history. In 2016, NBC used the band’s single “Undefeatable” during NHL playoff games — a highlight of Steve and Andy’s music careers. The CD artwork for Undefeatable utilized the historic Professional European Ice Hockey Tour Cup, which the family found in Muzz Patrick’s house after he died.

Muzz won the Stanley Cup with the Rangers in 1940 and joined the army to fight in World War II right after. In boxing, Muzz also became the Canadian amateur heavyweight title holder in 1934.

“We didn’t even know this hockey trophy existed until after my grandmother died in 2007,” Steve said. “We went to start clearing the house out before we eventually sold it. My dad came back after one of his trips inside and had that with him. We were like, ‘What is that thing?’”

The Patrick family is one of the most historic and decorated families in hockey history, featuring seven Stanley Cup champions and four Hockey Hall of Famers (Lester, Frank, Lynn, and Craig). When the Capitals won the Stanley Cup in 2018, Dick Patrick and Chris Patrick became the sixth and seventh members of the family to have their names written on the NHL’s championship trophy.

Steve went to the family’s Stanley Cup day and noted that it was one of the most memorable days of his life.

While Steve’s tweet poked fun at his own personal journey in life, he said that it also comes from a place of deep love and admiration for his cousin who has put in an incredible amount of work to become the fifth member of his family to be a general manager in the NHL.

Chris is a graduate from Princeton University and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Virginia in 2006. Chris also played hockey growing up in the DC area and was selected by the Capitals in the eighth round (197th overall) of the 1994 NHL Draft. After his playing career ended, he spent 16 seasons with the team as a staff member, working as a pro scout, director of player personnel, and assistant general manager. Along with Bryan Helmer, he helped the Hershey Bears become back-to-back Calder Cup champions.

“He’s so excited,” Steve said. “Our whole family is so excited for him.”

Chris’s big promotion also comes on what usually is a sadder day for the family.

“My dad Paul passed away nine years ago today and was a massive Caps fan,” Steve said. “I know he’s beaming with pride looking down on Chris today.”