Huntsville's Nic Dowd takes the ice against his hometown UAH Chargers

They say "You can't go home again."
But, they don't say "Home can't come to you."
Well, that didn't exactly come out right but when you read this, maybe it will make sense.
Anyway, years ago, a young Nic Dowd was growing up in Huntsville, playing hockey in the Huntsville Amateur Hockey Association and watching the UAH hockey team play.
Like a lot of young hockey players here, he had dreams of playing for the Chargers.
Well, the hockey gods are giving Dowd that chance this weekend - sort of.
The Chargers are in St. Cloud, Minn., to take on the St. Cloud State Huskies in a two-game series.
When the two teams take the ice, Dowd will be in the lineup.
But it will be for St. Cloud State, not UAH.
The Huskies of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association are 0-2 this season but Dowd has three assists. The Chargers are 0-1-1.

"It's kind of come full circle for me," Dowd said. "I grew up in HAHA playing for the Huntsville Chargers (travel team) and watching Jared Ross and UAH.

"Now I'm playing the (team) I looked up to."

Dowd said he was recruited by UAH after he played prep school and junior hockey in Indianapolis.

Nic Dowd

Budd McLaughlin, The Huntsville Times"UAH talked to me a little bit," he said. "It didn't work out, though."

With his on-ice success in St. Cloud, he also has some off-ice honors: the 2012 WCHA All-Academic team and a 2012 WCHA Scholar-Athlete.

"I take academics seriously," he said. "Some guys don't concentrate on school and just on sports. 

"St. Cloud State went out on a limb and gave me a scholarship. It wouldn't be good for me to thumb my nose at them."

But, that's not to say the 6-foot-2 forward is all academic.

In 2009, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings, making him the first Alabamian to be chosen by a National Hockey League team.

"I'll never forget that," Dowd said. "It's pretty special being the first guy from Alabama to be drafted."

It was a moment to be remembered.

"I was at Walmart and got a text message," he said. "Still, to this day, I relive that moment."

And, like most hockey players who had to go to pre-dawn practices and play all over the region and country, Dowd is appreciative of what his parents Alan and Liz Dowd have done for him.

"I wouldn't be what I am today if not for my parents," he said.

This weekend is Breast Cancer Awareness weekend for St. Cloud State teams.  The Huskies will sport pink ribbon logos on their helmets in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.

But Dowd and some of his teammates are doing a bit more than wearing pink.

They are growing their hair to be cut for the Locks for Love program which supplies human hair wigs for cancer patients.

I came up with it after the season," Dowd said. "We just kept growing it."

Then, they found out exactly how long it has to be.

"We thought it was seven inches from the scalp," he said. "It has to be 10 inches of ponytail.

"But putting our hair in ponytails is no where near as bad as what the people are going through."

View a video of Nic Dowd talking about the Locks for Love program at www.scsuhuskies.com/index.aspx?path=mhockey