ST. CLOUD — The relationship between Nic Dowd and Bob Motzko goes back to 2009.
Dowd was an 18-year-old forward playing junior hockey for the NAHL’s Wenatchee Wild.
St. Cloud State assistant coach Eric Rud
came to see Dowd on a recruiting trip.
“I hadn’t had any contact with St. Cloud,” Dowd said. “Eric came down after the game and talked to me for a little bit. He told me to hold off on any other plans you have. Our head coach needs to come and see you.
“Bob came out next weekend and watched me play. Luckily, I had a great weekend and we moved on from there. I think the next weekend, I went to St. Cloud and toured the campus. I was committed by the end of the week.”
Dowd was impressed by Motzko,
who “mutually parted ways” with the University of Minnesota
on Wednesday, March 18, after eight seasons as the head coach of the Golden Gophers.
“Bob is an incredible recruiter,” Dowd said. “You can tell that by the teams we had that were made up by a bunch of guys that had potentially been passed over by other teams locally. There was me from Alabama, kids from (British Columbia) and Finland and Europe. He was an incredible recruiter and found a lot of diamonds in the rough throughout my career at St. Cloud. That was my first interaction with him.”
And Motzko has stayed in contact with Dowd, who was traded from the Washington Capitals to the Vegas Golden Knights on March 5. He had been an alternate captain and played 7 1/2 seasons with Washington.
Vegas Golden Knights center Nic Dowd (62) skates against Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) during the third period on March 6, 2026, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Stephen R. Sylvanie/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“Bob reached out to me,” Dowd said. “He said, ‘I know it may be a bummer on the trade with how close you were with the Caps. But Vegas sure wanted you. Now go win a (Stanley) Cup and we’ll be following all the action.’
“I told him I appreciate it. It’s challenging to explain it to a 6-year-old that we’re leaving his life behind. But we’ll keep moving forward and see where the new adventure brings us.”
Dowd and his wife, Paige, have a 6-year-old son, Louie, and a 3-year-old daughter, Ruby, and they’re expecting a third child.
Then Motzko said something that stuck with Dowd. Motzko and
his family suffered a tragedy on July 25, 2021, when Mack Motzko died in a car accident.
“He just said, ‘Kids are resilient; they will be fine. Trust me,'” Dowd said. “I just thought that caught me. It meant a lot to me him saying that with what he’s been through. What he and his family have been through doesn’t touch at all what we’re going through. They’re not even comparable.
“But I just thought for him to say that to me gave me a lot of perspective. I thought, if he can keep moving forward with what’s happened, my kids and my family can, too. They’re not even comparable. I just felt it was really important for me to hear that.”
Members of the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team celebrate after defeating Miami, 4-1, for the NCAA Midwest Region championship on March 31, 2013, in Toledo, Ohio.
SCSU ATHLETICS
Dowd played for
from 2010-14. His first two seasons, he had 16 goals and 42 points in 72 games.
“I kind of came in there as a freshman, not knowing what I was capable of, hadn’t really figured out how to be a professional at my craft yet,” Dowd said. “I wasn’t even really working out. That changed.”
After his sophomore season, Motzko had a meeting with Dowd to help give him some direction. Dowd, who is from Mobile, Alabama, was a seventh-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Kings in 2009.
“My exit interview after my sophomore season, he just said, ‘You spend so much time bouncing around during the summer that you don’t have the ability to focus on training and hockey. I think you could really do something with this, but you really need to buckle down,'” Dowd said. “He referred to me as ‘a speedball.’ You go to Alabama, you go here, you go there, you come to Minnesota for a month … I really think you should just stay here. I ended up doing that.”
Dowd stayed in St. Cloud that summer and worked out with teammates Ben Hanowski, Drew LeBlanc, Nick Jensen and Kevin Gravel.
“I worked out twice a day, five days a week,” he said. “I skated every single day. I kind of followed Ben Hanwoski and Drew LeBlanc.
“Me, (Gravel) and (Jensen) all lived together. So we stayed there over the summer. I worked out. We had everything at our disposal. That was the first time I really got on a schedule and trained all summer. I came back my junior year and had the best year of my career. I replicated that summer the next summer and then I came back and had an even better senior year.”
The St. Cloud State men’s hockey team celebrates with the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular season champion on March 16, 2013, at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center in St. Cloud.
Brace Hemmelgarn / SCSU ATHLETICS
As a junior, Dowd had 14 goals and 25 assists in 41 games and helped the Huskies win the MacNaughton Cup as WCHA regular-season champions and then reach the Frozen Four. Both were firsts in SCSU history.
“We had young kids playing well,” Dowd said. “We had Hano, LeBlanc, myself, Nick Jensen all playing good hockey. We had good goaltending (with Ryan Faragher).
“We were a powerhouse that year. There was a lot of good human beings on that team that wanted each other to be successful and held each other accountable to a very high level. That breeds success. I believe that’s why we were so successful at St. Cloud State was because we had a lot of good human beings on that team. We trusted each other and we were close.”
His senior year, Dowd was named captain and had 22 goals, 40 points and was plus-17. He was NCHC Defensive Forward of the Year and a top-three finalist for the Hobey Baker Award. The Huskies won the first NCHC regular season title and reached the NCAA West Regional championship. SCSU beat Notre Dame, 4-3, in overtime, in the opening round and Dowd had the game-winning goal. Minnesota defeated SCSU, 4-0, in the region final.
After the season, Dowd signed a pro deal and joined the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs, the top minor league team for the Kings. He gives Motzko credit for helping him get there.
“It wasn’t like I was a troubled kid,” Dowd said. “I had great parents. We had a great family. Everything I had going into St. Cloud was instilled from my mom and my dad and my two brothers.
“I just think Bob gave me a little bit of direction. I needed that. Once I found that direction, he gave me a leash. He gave me trust and he gave me responsibility on the ice and in the locker room. That’s all you can ask for as a player. Once you get a taste of it, you just want more of it.”
Team USA head coach Bob Motzko talks to the team during practice on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, at Amsoil Arena in Duluth.
Clint Austin / Duluth Media Group
Dowd said Motzko’s success stems from a variety of reasons.
“I think he demands a lot from his players,” he said. “We were all fortunate on both sides. Bob was fortunate. When I was in St. Cloud, we had an excellent group of individuals who were great people. Ben Hanowski, Drew LeBlanc, Aaron Marvin, Garrett Roe, Kevin Gravel, Nick Jensen — Bob did a good job of recruiting good individuals. The ones who weren’t good individuals got weeded out.
“We were fortunate that Bob was so good at recruiting. He did such a good job of finding ways to push the right buttons on players.”
Years later, they remain in contact.
“It’s not like we’re talking every week or every month,” Dowd said. “I would say any big event in my life. My dad passed away late September of 2025 and Bob was one of the people who reached out.
“When I signed my new contract last April, Bob reached out. There were times when Bob must have been watching playoffs and maybe I scored and he reached out. The birth of my children, he reached out. When I got traded, he reached out. Any time there’s something large that’s happened in my life, he’s been an individual who has reached out. Bob has always stayed close.”
Now, Dowd would like nothing better than to help Vegas win the Stanley Cup. And Motzko gave him a pep talk.
“He said, ‘What you’ve become has put you in this position, you have become an unbelievable value to a winning culture. You might know that this is a great compliment,'” Dowd said. “I’m very excited to go to Vegas. But just a bummer for my family with having to move — and the logistics of it — and moving a 6-year-old out of his school. Just all the things that come along with moving a family.”
Vegas Golden Knights center Nic Dowd (62) checks Dallas Stars center Colin Blackwell (15) during the second period on March 10, 2026, at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Jerome Miron / IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Nic Dowd’s NHL statistics
YearTeamGPGoalsAssists Points+/-PM2015-16L.A. Kings5000+122016-17L.A. Kings7061622-15252017-18L.A. Kings16011-3122017-18Vancouver Canucks40303-7162018-19Washington Capitals6481422+10202019-20Washington Capitals567815+11282020-21Washington Capitals5611415+4312021-22Washington Capitals64101424+10442022-23Washington Capitals65131225+6262023-24Washington Capitals64121022-2472024-25Washington Capitals82141327+7562025-26Washington Capitals5541216-6532025-26Vegas Golden Knights9011E12Totals64688105193+16372