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Scout
10-14-2005, 08:24 AM
Dripping with sweat, Brent Peterson came off the ice after the
Nashville Predators' morning skate in Denver, looking like what he is
-- a longtime NHL player-turned-assistant coach who luxuriates in the
daily routines of his job. He can't get enough of it, including both
the instruction and the playfulness on game morning, when coaches can
linger and be like little boys fooling around on the pond.

At age 47, the Predators' associate coach by all rights should be one
of the NHL's prime candidates to move up into a head coaching position.


His resume is lined with credibility, from his long NHL playing career
with Detroit, Hartford, Vancouver and Buffalo as a heady
defensive-minded forward, to a coaching run that includes a Memorial
Cup championship as the head coach of major-junior's Portland Winter
Hawks.

In fact, Peterson was so ensconced as a coach and part-owner in
Portland, where he also had played his major-junior career and where
the Winter Hawks remain a strong draw as the winter sporting
alternative to the NBA's Trail Blazers, it was a bit surprising that
he accepted the offer to return to the NHL with the Predators in 1998.

But he did, and as Barry Trotz's top assistant, Peterson has been a
critical part of a Predators operation that has ridden out the
expansion-rough waters through six seasons and is coming off its first
playoff berth in 2004, when it lost to Detroit in the first round.

Yet reality looms.

Reality threatens.

Reality won't go away.

Short of a stunning medical advance, there is no skirting it. Peterson
knows that at some point -- in 10 years, perhaps -- the effects of
Parkinson's disease will be more visible, and the minor symptoms that
are now minor annoyances will become something more.

After the Predators exited the playoffs 17 months ago, Peterson
decided it was time to tell his children, his employers and the media
something he and his wife, Tami, had known for about two years. He had
been diagnosed with the neurological disorder that progressively takes
its toll, joining, among many others, Pope John Paul II, Michael J.
Fox and Muhammad Ali.

" Physically, I'm fine. Sometimes you get thinking, 'What's it going
to be like in 10 years?' and that can mentally get to you, because you
see people in the advanced stages and you can get pretty depressed. "
- Brent Peterson on his battle with Parkinson's disease
Peterson probably would prefer that this column be about, say, the
adjustments in approach the previously close-to-the-vest,
defensive-minded Predators have had to make in the wake of the NHL's
obstruction crackdown and new rules. Or certainly, their 3-0 start,
including the come-from-behind 5-4 win over Colorado in Denver
Wednesday night. If he were looking over my shoulder, he would say
this probably already has gotten too dramatic and too revealing.

He's OK now and he's not looking for sympathy.

"I haven't had any problems and my doctor has been great," Peterson
said. "He said I'm going to be fine for years. It is progressing, but
it's progressing very slow. So I can't say I'm lucky, but sometimes it
advances pretty fast."

Indeed, for Peterson, this is neither an obsession nor the first act
of a melodrama. The health issue is there, but life goes on, and above
all, he is determined not to let it affect his work or his golf game.
He has a slight tremor in his right arm, and occasional numbness, but
in part because of effective medication, the symptoms are virtually
unnoticeable.

"I'm part of some support groups, but I just try and stay low-key and
not say much," Peterson said. "When people ask me questions, I try and
answer them. But I'm doing fine.

"The first step is trying to deal with it myself so I can handle it as
a long-term thing, so I can handle it mentally. Physically, I'm fine.
Sometimes you get thinking, 'What's it going to be like in 10 years?'
and that can mentally get to you, because you see people in the
advanced stages and you can get pretty depressed.

"Right now, I'm just learning how to deal with it. I love being in the
season because last year was terrible, with not too much to do. We're
so busy now, you don't think about it, you go and do your job, and
it's back in the game and it's fun. I'm just trying to deal with it
and learn about it and survive day by day. The guys have been really
great, and the coaches, they treat me like I'm normal."

Peterson laughed and added, poking fun at himself and not
acknowledging his disease, "Even though I'm not normal."

A little later, Nashville general manager David Poile smiled when
asked about Peterson and his health.

"Did he talk about his golf game?" Poile asked. "He got two
holes-in-one during the lockout. I can't beat him."

Turning serious, Poile noted: "It's a terrible thing for a young
person to have. My dad [hockey icon Bud Poile] had Parkinson's, so we
dealt with that for 15 years, but he was 80 years old. But I really
don't think anybody's treating Brent any different."

Again, he smiled. "He's not getting any more strokes on the golf course."

At Portland, Peterson coached many future NHL players, and the bond
between major-junior coaches and players they've influenced can be
lasting. So as the Predators make their first post-lockout swings
around the league, his former Portland players -- including Brenden
Morrow, Marian Hossa, Jason Wiemer and Steve Konowalchuk -- will be
telling him they're rooting for him.

"He was a super coach for me in junior," said Konowalchuk, the veteran
Colorado winger. "The way I play today stems a lot from what he taught
me. He's as good a guy as it gets, and he'll do anything for his
players. I think everybody who played for him has that kind of respect.

"In his situation, he's such a strong man, with such a strong family,
that you almost think it's one of those things where God only gives it
to people who can handle it, and he's the type of guy who'll get
through it. His character is flawless, from roots on up."

Peterson wants to be a head coach in the NHL. He doesn't hide that
ambition, so the issue becomes whether his candor about his diagnosis
will come back to haunt him when general managers around the league
compile short lists or make decisions. And while it's tempting to
espouse the idealistic view that nobody will consider Parkinson's when
evaluating him, that would be naïve. And Peterson knows it.

"Oh, that's just the way it is," he said. "There's not much you can do
about it. I hope I get a chance someday, but if I'm a GM, I'd have to
look into the health issue. But according to my doctors, I'll be fine
and it won't affect my mental capacity. It shouldn't ever affect my
intelligence about the game.

"But there will be a stigma because of, well, not stupidity, but
ignorance about how it will affect me. I think it would hurt my
chances, I'm quite sure of that. I'm not trying to be sour about that.
But I try to be realistic. There's nothing you can do about it. You
have to deal with it.''

He'll handle it.