A special bond
Patty and Carl Dowsett provided a home away from home for young Ottawa 67’s recruits for 15 years, writes DON CAMPBELL. Patty passed away this week at age 57, but for former billets such as Logan Couture, the fond memories live on.
Logan Couture brought a heavy heart onto the ice earlier this week as he took his first skate of the summer in London, Ont. The Ottawa 67’s legend, like all in the team’s extended family, is mourning the passing of Patty Dowsett, who along with husband Carl billeted many 67’s big stars and not-so-big-stars for 15 years. The Dowsett household was a teenage Couture’s home away from home for three of his four sparkling seasons with the club.
Dowsett passed away Friday, just eight days shy of her 58th birthday, after a lengthy illness. She was laid to rest Wednesday in Ottawa.
Couture, now 24 and a fullfledged star with the San Jose Sharks, recalls how then-67’s coach and general manager Brian Kilrea picked him up as a wide-eyed 15-year-old in the fall of 2005. Couture said one of the very first places Kilrea took him was the Dowsetts’ Alta Vista-area home.
Looking back, Couture said the warmth of the greeting he received from both Patty and Carl won him over and was a major reason he chose to stay in Ottawa — a decision he has never regretted.
“I still wasn’t sure I would be coming to play in Ottawa, and Killer took me to Patty and Carl’s and said, ‘You know, if you decide to stay, here’s where you will be living and these are the people who will be looking after you.’ And they were just so welcoming.
“It was one of the big selling points in me staying in Ottawa. Being 15 years old and moving away from home, obviously I missed my parents. But their house became like a home to me. It was a place my parents and I felt safe going to and Patty did everything for us.
“We had talked and emailed back and forth, even recently, but when Carl called me Friday, it was just devastating. There were times Patty was really sick and she just wouldn’t let her illness affect anyone else.”
Unfortunately, Couture was unable to attend the funeral. He will spend another two weeks at home in London before shipping out first to Calgary and Team Canada’s Olympic orientation camp, then back to his third hockey home in San Jose to prepare for training camp.
But the memories of the Dowsett household will last forever. It was his second hockey home, as it was for many. The couple billeted as many as three 67’s at a time.
The first player they housed was Perth native Corey Murphy, and they hated when Kilrea traded Murphy to the Sault. Cornwall’s Derek Grant was next.
And Couture was the last, initially for a season as a rookie. Then Carl said he and Patty had to make one of the toughest calls of their lives, telling Couture she was simply too ill to house him his sophomore year.
But they were ecstatic when Patty’s health rebounded and they were able to take Couture in for his third and fourth seasons, their last as billets.
“We always joked that we and Logan kind of graduated the same year,” said Carl.
In between Murphy and Couture, they had the likes of Corey Locke, David Bell and Brian Campbell — not bad company — and many others, including Toronto’s Peter Tsimikalis, who flew in with his father for the service.
And as with her own three sons, the woman of the house played no favourites.
“This ran from the first player until the last: Patty always said they were not billets — they were family,” Carl said. “At the dinner table, if that phone rang during dinner, it would have to ring and ring. That was the kids’ half-hour of peace.
“In her mind, Killer was in charge on the ice and she was in charge off the ice.”
Carl said one of his wife’s highlights was the 2012 NHL All-Star Game here in Ottawa, which featured both Campbell and Couture.
“Logan got a hold of us and asked if we were going to the game,” Carl said, “and we said we’d just watch it on TV.
“Somehow, something happened that all of a sudden we had tickets.”
While deeply saddened by the passing, Couture also recalled a brighter and funnier moment at the Dowsett family home.
It was his rookie year, when the Dowsetts also took in older veterans Derek Joslin (who became his teammate again in San Jose 2008-2011) and Chris Hulit.
Couture recalled how Patty would always prepare the next day’s lunches the night before — one for her husband to take to work and one for Couture to take to school. Joslin and Hulit were beyond their high school years and could sleep in.
“Derek and Chris decided they would play a joke on me, so they went through the fridge thinking they would take big bites out of my lunch, then put it back in the fridge for me to take to school in the morning,” Couture said. “So I get home from school the next day and they’re just sitting there waiting.
“They asked me how my day was and I said fine. And then they asked me how my lunch was and I said it was all right.
“It turns out they had taken the big bites out of Carl’s lunch and he barely had anything to eat at work that day. Patty used to laugh at that story.”
In addition to her husband, Patty Dowsett leaves behind sons Gordon, Keith (Alexis) and Christopher, and granddaughters Emily and Olivia.