Featured Alumnus: Chris Higgins '01 | Avon Old Farms News | About Us | Avon Old Farms

He’s played in the Stanley Cup Finals, represented Team USA, and competed against the best players in the world in front of packed arenas. Yet, if you ask Chris Higgins ’01 about the most intimidating moments of his life, he’ll tell you about his arrival on Avon’s campus as a freshman. “By far the biggest adjustment period for me was when I first got to Avon Old Farms. I was a young 14, I hadn’t gone through puberty yet, and I was looking around at all these men going to classes with me. Even the campus itself was like nothing I had ever seen back home.”

The prep school environment was completely foreign to Higgins, who hails from Long Island. In fact, Avon Old Farms was one of only two prep schools he had ever heard of before enrolling. He had been to campus once before, and that visit proved to be a formative stop in his hockey journey. He first started playing organized hockey at seven years old, and at the time played defense. When his team traveled to Avon for a game, he had to step into a new position to replace a forward on his team who couldn’t make the trip. “I scored a hattrick and my coach never played me at defense again.”

By the time he was nearing high school age, he was beginning to stand out from his peers. He knew in order to have a chance at playing professional hockey, he would need a change of scenery to face tougher competition. So, he stepped into the new environment of New England boarding schools. It took some time for Higgins to adjust to the change of scenery. “My first few weeks, I was calling home all the time telling my mom I think we made a mistake. There were so many adjustments and things I didn’t know. I didn’t have my own computer and could barely type. I remember being in tears in the library because my homework was just taking me so long.”

Being someone who naturally embraces challenges—and with some reassurances from his mom—Higgins decided to stick it out, and it didn’t take long before he started enjoying himself. “Once the soccer season started and I met a few more guys on the team it very quickly felt right. Coach Rice and the rest of the faculty also played a huge part in that.”

Higgins was a three-sport athlete, competing in soccer, hockey, and track. “If I had free time, I spent it messing around with a hockey stick. But I was always kind of a sports kid, and Avon was the perfect place to get involved in a variety of things. I was like a kid in a candy shop with all the facilities there.” In his senior year, Higgins was the captain, Most Valuable Player, and All-New England leader of Avon’s varsity soccer team. As a member of the track team, he became one of the top javelin throwers in the Founders League. After settling in, he found himself stepping into other leadership roles on campus too. Higgins served as a dorm monitor for two years and was head monitor in Pelican his senior year. 

While those who know who Chris Higgins became in the NHL, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he excelled in hockey while at Avon. But it may be surprising for some to learn that Higgins didn’t even try out for the varsity hockey team his freshman year. Still a bit undersized for the varsity level, he opted to play for then-JV coach and now Head of School Jim Detora ’12. “Detora was the perfect coach for me at that time,” Higgins shares. “He’s got a lot of fire in him and I loved it. He taught me to play with no fear. I really embraced that, which prepared me for varsity the next year.”

The following year, he made the varsity team and worked his way up the roster. Although he was growing in confidence in his own game, he was primarily focused on contributing to team success. He was also embracing the opportunity to play under John T. Gardner. “He scared the absolute daylights out of me, but I also knew his record of getting guys to the NHL and winning championships. John also reminded me a lot of my dad. They both had a no-nonsense approach to everything: No excuses, just get the job done, and if you can’t get the job done then go down swinging. It was easy to respect him and listen to what he had to teach me. He’s one of the top coaches I’ve ever played under in my career. As far as pivotal moments in my life, he’s one of the first to come up in that conversation.”

Higgins took a moment to reflect on the recent passing of Gardner. “Losing John, for a lot of kids, it’s like losing your dad. It hurts. There are words you wish you said to him, but I think he knew,” he says. “The one thing I remember about the guys I played with at Avon, is that every single guy would’ve ran through a wall for John. I’ll always remember his ability to do that for kids.”

Under the guidance of Gardner, Higgins was Avon’s leading scorer during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons, leading the team to two consecutive New England Championship games. In the 1999-2000 season, Avon Old Farms entered the postseason tournament as the eighth seed. Realistically, the team didn’t have much of a chance of winning their first game, let alone the entire tournament. This tournament, however, ended up being one of Higgins’s greatest hockey memories. “One of the moments in my career that still gives me chills was that first game in the playoffs against an undefeated Taft. We didn’t stand a chance against these guys. I’m sitting in the locker room with my gear on, five minutes before the start of the game, it was dead silent in the locker room. Then, the Avon buses must’ve pulled up, and suddenly we just heard the chants, and I started to believe. We went out there and smashed them. We beat them before the game even ended. After that, we were on a mission, and we believed for the first time we were the team to win. That’s all John. We played the game, but he pulled the strings.”

In the final, Higgins scored the decisive overtime goal against Deerfield to capture the Division I title, which led to some wild celebrations courtesy of the Avon Army. “I scored and then I looked up and saw a kid on the baseball team on the ice with his shoes. I thought let’s go, bring everyone on here.”

Following his high school career, Higgins matriculated to Yale University where he would go on to be a standout for the Bulldogs. He was named the ECAC Co-Player of the Year, an NCAA first–team All-American, and a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, the top individual award in college hockey. He was then named to the Team USA roster for the world junior tournament where he led his country in scoring. “That was when I started to believe I would make it. That’s when the mission really started. I went all in.”

In the 2002 NHL draft, he was selected 14th overall by the Montreal Canadiens. For Higgins, the moment was surreal. He wasn’t confident he’d be selected in the first round, but he ended up being chosen by the team he rooted for growing up. “I was still a fan. I wasn’t sure if I was absorbing reality at the moment. I just tried to keep it cool,” Higgins recalls. “It’s hard to believe it’s your own life. Your mind rejects it almost because it’s too perfect.”

While draft night was certainly a highlight, the following months of playing among the best athletes in the world provided expected challenges. “It was hard. I was always the guy on every team. Now, I’m on the fourth line playing 3-4 minutes a game. It was an adjustment because I knew I didn’t belong yet. I didn’t feel like I had earned it yet.” He spent his first two seasons working his way toward becoming a regular starter for the Canadiens, eventually cementing himself as a solid asset for the team and was even named an alternate captain. He also had to overcome injuries to continue his success on the ice.

For Higgins, none of these challenges were insurmountable due largely to his time at Avon. “Avon prepared me for every challenge I encountered in my life, not just on the ice. The impact of my time there was so vast and so deep. I always wanted to take on the world, and Avon was the first place that made me feel like I could do it. It taught me to take on the world.” He reaffirms that his first few months at Avon were a bigger challenge than any of his hurdles after. “From so much self-doubt early on to so much self-confidence—It’s crazy to think about that transition.”

Higgins put up multiple 20+ goal seasons, was an integral part of several deep playoff runs, and was a fan-favorite during his stints in both Montreal and Vancouver. After 12 seasons, Higgins retired from the NHL and thought that he was done with hockey for good. He and his wife, Chantal, had welcomed a baby girl in his final season, and he was ready to be a stay-at-home dad for a while. During this time, his perspective on the game of hockey quickly changed. “I can’t believe I put so much focus into something that really doesn’t matter much. My daughter is my life, my family, the happiness and health of people around me—I don’t even think about the game as much compared to those things. These new things in my life shifted my perspective of hockey: now I have things that are so much larger to care about, and I am so grateful to have time in my life for them.”

After three years away from the game, the Vancouver Canucks offered him a job as a skills and development coach, helping players within the lower ranks of the organization work their way up. It allowed him to continue to focus on what was important to him while helping others. “After living my dream, I wanted to help give other guys that gift.” Now, he serves as an ambassador for the team, which mostly involves charity and community work throughout the British Columbia region. “It’s an unbelievable job. I’m so grateful to have it.”

While hockey has returned to his life, so could hockey at Avon Old Farms. Higgins says he would love to return to the JTG Rink for a future Alumni Hockey Weekend, which this year takes place on February 28. More details about that event can be found here: https://connect.avonoldfarms.com/e/022826/

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