Pat Nagle, one of the top goaltenders in Komets history and a member of the US Olympic Team in 2022, told The Journal Gazette on Monday that he is retiring at 36.

He is the second winningest goaltender in ECHL history with 223, 42 fewer than Nick Vitucci, and Nagle would seem a lock to someday be inducted into the ECHL’s Hall of Fame.

Nagle shares the ECHL record for most playoff appearances with 90, also accomplished by Riley Gill, and Nagle won 50 playoff games, second most behind Gill’s 53. Nagle played more postseason minutes than any other ECHL goalie with 5,510.

Nagle spent last season with the American Hockey League’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms and the ECHL’s Reading Royals.

Nagle manned the Komets’ net from 2014-2017. That included a trip to the Western Conference finals in 2016.

Nagle was 66-22-12 all-time for Fort Wayne in the regular season. His 2.36 goals-against average in 2015-16 ranks eighth in franchise history (minimum 1,500 minutes). His best Fort Wayne GAA came the next season, when it was 2.23, and he also had a .916 save percentage, his best in a Komets uniform.

Nagle had nine shutouts for Fort Wayne.

In the postseason, Nagle was 16-13 for the Komets.

It remains a hotly debated topic if the Komets should have moved on from Nagle, as they did in the summer of 2017 despite his popularity with Fort Wayne fans. Michael Houser became the No. 1 goalie and led Fort Wayne to the Western Conference finals in 2018, with a victory over the rival Toledo Walleye, who had Nagle in net, in the division finals. Nagle won 37 games that season, the third most ever in an ECHL season; the record of 38 is shared by Brian Eklund and Mark Michaud.  

Nagle went on to great success with Toledo and helped it to the 2019 Kelly Cup final. He also became a reliable AHL player in the Detroit Red Wings’ system before going into the Philadelphia Flyers’ in 2021.

He was a backup goalie at the Beijing Olympics but didn’t see any playing time behind Strauss Mann and Drew Commesso.

Nagle’s ECHL history goes back to 2011, when he began his professional career with the Florida Everblades after a college career at Ferris State. Nagle ranks fourth in ECHL history in games played with 373 (Vitucci is the leader with 479). Nagle is third in minutes played with 21,505 (Vitucci, 27,291). With 18 shutouts, Nagle is tied for sixth (Jeff Jakaitis, 25). Nagle had seven seasons in the ECHL with 20 or more victories, which is tied for the league record with Daniel Berthiaume and Vitucci.

Nagle won playoff games with Fort Wayne, Toledo, Reading, Florida and the Idaho Steelheads.