York City police officer. As a youth, Higgins played in the 1996 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Connecticut Yankees minor ice hockey team, and then in the 1997 tournament with the New York Islanders minor team. As a minor, he played on teams with his future Canadiens teammate Mike Komisarek and his future Flames teammate Eric Nystrom, both of whom he remains close friends with. He was a student of Lithuanian hockey coach Aleksey Nikiforov at hockey camps in his teenage years. Though he grew up on Long Island, Higgins was a Montreal Canadiens fan as a child, following after his father; his favorite players on the team were goaltender Patrick Roy and captain Kirk Muller. Higgins left home to join the high school hockey program of Avon Old Farms in Connecticut. Following his high school graduation, Higgins was enrolled in Yale University for two years, majoring in political science while playing on the school's hockey team. Higgins and his ex-partner Chantel have a daughter named Bowen who was born in Vancouver on April 10, 2015. Career statistics Regular season and playoffs International Notes Awards and honors References External links 1983 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers Calgary Flames players Florida Panthers players Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) players Ice hockey players from New York (state) Montreal Canadiens draft picks Montreal Canadiens players National Hockey League first-round draft picks New York Rangers players Sportspeople from Smithtown, New York Utica Comets players Vancouver Canucks players Yale Bulldogs men's ice hockey players Avon Old Farms alumni Yale College alumni AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans