Ex-Hawk got on wrong side of blade

Fair Game

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Feb 15, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

DAVID TAYLOR / ALLSPORT

Bill Claridge, father of former Fort Vancouver (Wash.) High offensive lineman Travis Claridge (pictured), says the NFL’s poor treatment of injured players contributed to the death of Travis Claridge, who played four years with the Atlanta Falcons, in 2006.

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Brent Peterson shuddered when he saw video of Richard Zednik’s horrific injury this week.

“Pretty scary, wasn’t it?” the Nashville Predators’ associate coach says of the injury to Florida forward Zednik, whom Peterson coached with the Winter Hawks. “He was pretty tough just to skate off the ice. That was unbelievable.”

Zednik, who scored 79 goals and had 167 points in 126 games with Portland from 1994-96, underwent an hour of surgery Sunday to repair a carotid artery that was nearly severed by a teammate’s skate.

Peterson says he called Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff – an ex-teammate – and was told Zednik is recuperating nicely.

“Lindy said Richard lost seven units of blood on the way to the hospital,” Peterson says. “Something serious like that happens, but not very often.”

The last time it happened to that extent in the NHL was in 1989, when another ex-Hawk, Buffalo goaltender Clint Malarchuk, was slashed so badly in the throat that he required 300 stitches. Malarchuk now is the goalie coach for Columbus.

• Just the other day, Peterson plugged in game video of the Winter Hawks’ Memorial Cup-clinching victory over Guelph in 1998. It’s the 10-year anniversary of that unforgettable team with such greats as Marian Hossa, Todd Robinson, Brenden Morrow, Andrew Ference and Brent Belecki. Average home attendance that season: 8,518.

“Those were pretty awesome times,” says Peterson, the Winter Hawks’ first captain in 1976 who came back to serve as assistant coach and finally head coach from 1993-98. “A lot of good people have gone through that organization.”

Peterson says he has had little communication about what has gone wrong with a franchise that now is the laughingstock of the Western Hockey League.

“It’s pretty sad,” Peterson says. “We were the model franchise for all of Canadian junior hockey. We did things right, treated the players well, made them go to school, spent the money to take care of them, won most years and were pretty successful.

“I don’t know what’s gone wrong, but it’s too bad for the Portland fans, who were so darn supportive. Everybody in junior hockey looked up to the Winter Hawks. It’s sad for them to be at the bottom now.”

In his 10th year with Nashville, Peterson has survived a purge that included an ownership change and the Predators sinking to the lowest team salary in the NHL. Despite that and the loss of several veterans, the Preds have gone 13-4-4 since Dec. 31 and have moved into the thick of the playoff race.

One of Peterson’s players in Portland, Scott Nichol, is playing a regular shift for Nashville.

“Scotty was a fourth-liner killing penalties, but he’s had to move up because of injuries and has played just great for us,” says Peterson of the center ice man, who has seven goals and five assists in 49 games.

• Peterson’s former assistant and later head coach of the Hawks, Mike Williamson, began last week as operations manager for Northwest Sleevewear, a Portland screen printing and embroidering company.

It was a chance to remain in Portland for Mike, wife Michelle, and their two young children. After being fired in July following a seven-year stint as the Hawks’ head coach, Williamson pondered hockey offers in other cities but decided to stay put.

“After things went sideways with the team, Michelle and I talked about our options,” says Williamson, who became Peterson’s assistant in 1993 after a solid playing career with the Hawks. “We felt that, for now, Portland is home. This is where we want to be.

“It’s a good time for me to step back from coaching. I hadn’t been away from hockey my whole life. As tough a decision as it was, in a strange way, it was a bit of relief. And I was able to enjoy the birth of my son (Nicholas, four months ago). I’d never have been able to do that if I’d still been coaching.”

Williamson says he isn’t bitter about losing his job – “with coaching, it’s bound to happen,” he says – but resents that several longtime employees “were unfairly relieved of their duties” by new ownership.

“Business is business, and decisions are based on the bottom line,” Williamson says. “But things could have been handled a lot better. I do have some bitterness there, because those are quality people who were treated poorly.”

Williamson says he’s not down on ownership, however. Co-owner Jack Donovan has invited him to attend a game before the end of the season, “and I’ll probably go,” Williamson says. “Jack is a classy guy, and there are still a lot of great people who work there. Heck, many of us have the Winter Hawk crest tattooed on our body. I definitely want to see them come through to some better times.”

In the future, Williamson, 35, likely will return to hockey.

“I miss it,” he says, “but not as much as I thought. I needed a break. I was getting burned out. I miss the players and the feeling after a good win, but I have no regrets. My experience with the Winter Hawks was incredible. I very much cherish that.”

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