As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, his wife reveals their love story

Her reaction seems so far away now, all these years and a Hall of Fame career later.

Elizabeth Poile was in 10th grade, David Poile in 11th, when she popped a question she had no idea then would impact the rest of her life.

"I asked him, 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'" Elizabeth recalled Monday, after her husband formally announced his pending retirement. "Instantly he said, 'I'm going to be a general manager in the National Hockey League.'

"I said, 'Wow, that's great. What is that?'" Elizabeth said. "I have no idea."

Elizabeth Poile has plenty of an idea now, after two children, 51 years of marriage and 1,520 victories, most of which came as the GM of Nashville's hockey team.

Soon after she asked that question, David invited her to a hockey game in which his father, Bud, was coaching. A David Poile fan was born.

"I've been a fan of David Poile forever," Elizabeth said.

'My mom's the rock'

Poile, 73, will retire after this season as the winningest general manager in the history of the NHL and will hang it up as a GM after 26 years with the Predators — "the only job I've ever wanted." After more than 50 years in the NHL, he will transition into a new role as an adviser to the franchise.

Of course his biggest fan was front row Monday on the ice at Bridgestone Arena to watch her husband again.

This time it was to formally announce his retirement, which is effective July 1, and to formally introduce Barry Trotz as his hand-picked successor.

Elizabeth has been there through it all. Like when he played for Northeastern University. Like when Poile had dreams of playing in the NHL but soon realized he wouldn't. Like when he was an assistant GM with the Atlanta Thrashers, and later GM of the Washington Capitals and for the last 26 years in the same position with the Predators.

Like when the two were kids, 13 and 14 years old and neighbors in California.

A few seats to her left sat the couple's son, Brian Poile, an assistant general manager to his father.

While the day belonged to Poile and incoming GM Trotz, the woman behind the man tried to hold herself together.

"My mom's the rock for my sister (Lauren) and I," Brian Poile said. "I'm not trying to say a sad story, but he missed 90 to 95% of everything we did. She was there to take us to everything, make sure we had meals, make sure we had our homework done and everything in between. She held the fort down for us. She did that out of love for my dad because she knew how passionate he was about his job. Just proud of my mom. Anything my dad accomplished is equally her accomplishment."

'A true, true love story'

Elizabeth Poile hardly could take her eyes off her husband as he sat front and center on a stage inside Bridgestone Arena, a huge scoreboard his backdrop. The same went for Poile, whose eyes were trained on Elizabeth most of the time.

She took in every word. They both took in every emotion, from the words of praise to the video of a much younger Poile that played on the big screen behind him.

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"Hey, honey, that was good," she said to her smiling husband afterward.

The exchange captured in a nutshell the family culture Poile worked so hard to build within the Predators' organization. He poured the last 26 years of his life into the franchise. Now he was feeling the love back.

"It's a true, true love story," David Poile said. "You guys want to hear a love story?"

Poile talked of the two meeting when they were 13 years old. How he sat behind Elizabeth in French class and pulled on her pigtails. The two eventually married, on a July 4 not too many years later.

"That's Independence Day, or what I call loss of independence," David Poile joked.

Poile's other love, he said, is the Nashville Predators, a franchise on which he's left an indelible mark.

"The word class comes up," former Predators radio voice Terry Crisp said of Poile. "Top-notch for me. The position David was in all these years as GM, you sometimes get caught up in the hoopla. David was always family first, whether it be his family, players' families, my family ... didn't matter. The word that jumps up is class, and if you want to put a 'first' in front of that, be my guest."

'Not for lunch'

Poile jokingly referred to himself as "king of the castle" soon after he and Elizabeth married.

"I said, 'If this marriage is going to work, it's got to be this way. I'm going to make all the major decisions in our relationship and she'll make the minor decisions,'" Poile said. "Fortunately for our marriage we never had to make major decisions.

"Our marriage is at a crossroads with this decision because in our vows she said, 'I'll marry you for richer or poorer, but not for lunch.'"

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The two have had some laughs along the way, too, such as times when David would apprise her of recent road trips and all the luxury that came along with them.

"'Oh, we ate dinner at the Ritz; we stayed here; we did this,'" Elizabeth said. "I said, 'I'm home with peanut butter and jelly with these two (kids).' Everybody has to do their role. We've had a good partnership on and off the ice you might say."

'It's a young person's sport'

David and Elizabeth began talking of his retirement a few years ago, but talks ramped up "in earnest" after last season.

They'd sit at lunches and ponder the future. Eventually they both decided it was time. Time to spend more time together for the first time. Time to see the grandchildren more. Time for some time.

The two plan to spend a week with family once Poile's retirement is official at the end of June.

Elizabeth cited Poile's age as part of the reason he decided to retire.

"I want to have more time with him," she said. "He's still very healthy and I am. You don't want to wait until you have a cane. It's a young person's sport. ... David cares about this team so much. To be able to hand it over to a younger guy (Trotz). Barry seems so natural. ... It just seems so natural."

Poile's retirement will impact other family members, too.

"I don't think either of us ever thought we'd have a chance to work together, ever thought we'd be living in Nashville," Brian Poile said. "David Poile happens to be my dad, but I think most general managers in the league would love an opportunity to be mentored by him. It's been really special.

"I haven't had a chance to digest it. He made multiple trades just (Sunday). I'm thinking maybe after the season is over I can fully take it in."

In a few months, so, too, will Elizabeth Poile.

"We've had a separation of power," Elizabeth said. "He wanted that job and I wanted to be the support system because he did not have a lot of time for that, honestly.

"My life has ben so enriched because of the path he chose to go on, and I got to go on it with him."

Something 10th-grade Elizabeth never could have imagined.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: As Predators' David Poile braces for retirement, wife reveals love story