Photo: @nateschmidt88

When we last heard from Nate Schmidt, the Minnesota native was geeking out over the impending snow storm and naming his personal Caps snowball fight dream team.

On Monday, NHL.com’s Katie Brown caught up with Schmidt after the Capitals’ first practice since the blizzard and asked Schmidt about how he spent his days off. Apparently, the Caps defenseman took to the streets of Clarendon, Virginia with a close friend.

“We had a snowball game, a miniature one,” Schmidt said. “We went out to brunch and people were throwing some stuff around. It wasn’t really our fight, I think we kinda just jumped in on one for a second. I just wanted to get a couple in there because we were sitting there making snowballs for a couple minutes, so I was like ‘Okay, let’s go do this.'”

So yes, just to confirm, National Hockey League player Nate Schmidt jumped into a snowball fight with a bunch of random Virginians.

“Nothing brings people more together than a snowstorm,” Schmidt said. “I think it was hilarious.”

Schmidt and his buddy went to Liberty Tavern, which managed to still be open, and grabbed a bite to eat. But it wasn’t the food that was most memorable.

“It was so funny, they had a big snow pile out front, right outside the front door and it was so funny,” he said. The people walking by were like…”

Schmidt’s eyes got really big.

“I lived in a cul-de-sac growing up, and they used to always put all the snow from the whole neighborhood into the cul-de-sac and make a big hill,” he continued. “It’s the greatest thing in the world when you’re a young kid. You didn’t have to travel anywhere to go to a hill, just walk out the front door.”

Meanwhile, Schmidt’s friend, who had flown in specifically to see him play, flew home Monday afternoon without seeing the Caps play at all. Was that a bummer? Not so, according to the eternal optimist.

“It was awesome,” Schmidt said. “Obviously he would have liked to see a couple games but we had a lot of fun just walking around and we were jumping down the snowbanks and stuff like that.

“It was the perfect temperature [outside].”