QB Matt Nichols proud new papa of baby girl

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This article was published 10/11/2017 (2865 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Matt Nichols wasn’t on the field with his teammates Friday, fuelling speculation about his status for Sunday’s West Division semifinal game against the Edmonton Eskimos at Investors Group Field.

But the absence of the team’s starting pivot wasn’t bad news at all. In fact, Nichols, along with his wife Ali, welcomed their second child, baby girl Parker Winnie Lou Nichols, to the world.

“His family is doing well,” said Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea. “There’s another redhead ready to take over the planet, so it’s perfect.”

The birth was scheduled for Friday, meaning the Nichols family knew ahead of time that he wasn’t going to practise. Nichols did join his teammates near the end of the workout, where he was greeted by players and coaches with handshakes and hugs.

“We spend so much time around each other here, that when something like that happens it feels like we all had an addition to the family,” said Bombers receiver Clarence Denmark. “I told him congrats on that and that it’s real big.”

Nichols is currently nursing a calf injury that has kept him out for a majority of the last two practices, as well as last week’s win over the Stampeders in Calgary. He is expected to start Sunday, but it’s unclear if or how long he’ll be able to stay in the game.

Quarterbacks were unavilable to media Friday, so comment from the Nichols won’t come until Saturday.

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Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.