Photos: @paigedowder/Twitter
Washington Capitals center Nic Dowd appeared on the latest episode of the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast and discussed a variety of topics from playing with the Capitals to family life, which includes the story behind the morning he found out his wife Paige was going into labor.
This goes all the way back to New Year’s Eve 2019. The Capitals hosted the New York Islanders that afternoon. Around 10:15 in the morning, Nic was toweling off from the hot tub when Rob Tillotson, Capitals’ Director of Team Operations, came up to him and said, “Hey, man. I just got a call from your wife Paige. I think she’s gonna have a baby today.”
Nic said he remembers the way Tillotson said it. “My first instinct was ‘Oh, that’s awesome, man! Congrats!'” Nic said on the podcast, adding, “We kinda looked at each other and Tilly doesn’t have kids [and] I don’t have kids, and he was like ‘What do you want to do?’ and I was like ‘I don’t know. Should I stay and play the game? Does this stuff happen right away?’ and he was like “I don’t know. I don’t know what we should do.'”
Nic proceeded to explain that then-head coach Todd Reirden, who has kids, told him to go and be with his wife. After dressing in his gameday suit, Nic noticed the odd looks from players. He said, “[T.J. Oshie] and [Garnet Hathaway] are in there…they’re both looking at me and I’m putting my tie on and everything and they’re like ‘What are you doing, man?’ and I was like, ‘Paige is gonna have Lou today’…and they’re like, ‘What are you doing putting your tie on?’ and I was like ‘I don’t know.'”
He finished gathering his things and “ran home [in] full panic mode.” “We didn’t have anything set up. Lou was a month early, so we had nothing set up—no bag or whatever people take to the hospital at the time…So I show up in my suit, my wife’s like sitting there on one of those bouncy balls eating ice chips and she’s like “Why’d you come in your suit?’ and I was like, ‘I don’t know. I guess I don’t know why I came in my suit.'”
Paige did tell us that she made Nic go home and change. That evening just hours before the new year, the Dowds welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Louie. Paige shared the exciting news on January 1:
Louie has been introduced to hockey throughout the year—when the family visited St. Cloud State Univerity (Nic and Paige’s alma mater) in October 2020:
He loved it ❣️ pic.twitter.com/NXQ90fvDWS
— Paige Dowd (@paigedowder) October 14, 2020
Attending games:
🤍🥅🦅 pic.twitter.com/iCCOgsq5gp
— Paige Dowd (@paigedowder) April 14, 2021
— Paige Dowd (@paigedowder) May 24, 2021
Watching Dad play in Da Beauty League, the annual 4-on-4 summer tournament in Minnesota:
3 of my fav things 👨👦🥪 pic.twitter.com/VWyQrF1D2I
— Paige Dowd (@paigedowder) July 22, 2021
And attending a Capitals practice this past September:
— Paige Dowd (@paigedowder) September 23, 2021
By Della Young
