Long before he was a star defender with the Harvard Crimson, helped the United States win a gold medal at the World Junior Championship or earned the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenseman, Adam Fox was a proud member of the Long Island Gulls.
And one of his proudest moments came at the 2012 New York State Championships, where he teamed up with Charlie McAvoy, who would plot his own course to future NHL stardom, to lead the Gulls to a 14 & Under title.
Two years later, Fox was back at it, leading the Gulls to another state title and punching their ticket to another USA Hockey National Championship tournament, this time in Green Bay, Wis. In three tough games, the Gulls won only once and failed to advance to the quarterfinals, but Fox made his mark as one of the tournament’s top blueliners with four goals and four assists.
“I remember a lot about those Gulls days,” Fox recalled during a recent break in his New York Rangers schedule. “I played with the ’97 Gulls and we won a couple of States [tournaments]. Growing up and going to Nationals with them was a lot of fun in that 16U year, which was kind of my last run in youth hockey. Sadly, we didn’t move on past those three games at Nationals, but winning States and being able to move on was fun. You look back on those memories fondly.”
For Fox, competing on the national stage gave him the confidence that he could take his game to the next level. The following fall he would be sporting a different red, white and blue uniform, this time with the National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich.
“Throughout your time in youth hockey, you’re in your own area until you go to Nationals, where it’s a bigger arena and you’re playing against the top guys at your age,” he recalled.
“It’s a bit of a measuring stick to see how you measure up and you’re able to play against the top guys and all the top teams are usually there. So, if you’re able to play well there, you know you stack up pretty well with the top kids in the country.”
The NTDP was also Fox’s first taste of international competition, first at the 2016 Under-18 World Championships and later at the World Junior Championships. Success at the international arena was part of the mix, as Fox was a key figure on several gold-medal teams, including the 2017 World Junior squad in Montreal and Toronto. He returned for an encore the following season as an assistant captain with the crew that would win bronze in Buffalo.
Under the tutelage of Danton Cole, Fox found his footing playing with many of the top players in the country. Never the biggest or the fastest, he developed his own style that used his hockey IQ to outthink his opponents and put himself in situations to be successful in all areas of the ice.
“I played a kind of unique way. I wasn’t the fastest, but I kind of played the game at my own pace,” Fox said. “I think [Coach Cole] trusted me and gave me an opportunity and helped me focus on both sides of the puck. He obviously played a big role at that age. It was kind of a crucial age in terms of hockey development.”
Fox would finish his two years at the NTDP with the record for the most assists in a single season (59) and the most career assists (86) by a defenseman in program history.
Staked with a good foundation and the confidence to play his own game, Fox’s development really took off at Harvard, where he led all NCAA defensemen in assists and points in his three seasons with the Crimson, scoring116 points (21 goals, 95 assists) in 97 career games.
Fox credits head coach Ted Donato for putting him into situations where he could succeed.
“He was another coach who didn’t try and change the way I played,” Fox said. “You look at [Donato’s] track record the last couple years, it’s no surprise that NHL players are kind of pumping out of a school that I don’t think many people used to look at as a place that could produce NHL players.”
Feeling he was ready for the next level, Fox left Harvard before his senior year. He would eventually graduate from Harvard in 2022 after taking the final two classes he needed to complete his Psychology degree that summer.
Originally drafted by the Flames while he was at Harvard, Fox would never play a minute in Calgary. Instead, he would see his rights traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and then to the Rangers in 2019. Growing up a diehard Rangers fan, playing close to home for the team he grew up idolizing was a dream come true for Fox and his entire family.
Following in the tradition of the great Broadway blueliners, like Brian Leetch, Fox has found a home anchoring one of the best defensive corps in the game and putting the Rangers in a position to win a Stanley Cup for the first time since 1994.
And as the NHL remains committed to participating in the next two Olympic Winter Games, Fox is often mentioned as a strong candidate to anchor the U.S. blueline corps. When that happens, he may very well team up again with McAvoy, who has carved out a great career with another Original Six team, the Boston Bruins.
“I would love to play with him again,” said Fox, who was in McAvoy’s wedding party over the summer. “I don’t know if either of us is hoping to leave our respective team soon so hopefully that’s the place that we’re able to get back together and play again.”
Adding to his international medals collection would be a bonus.
“I’ve been fortunate to play a couple of those events, World Juniors, World Championships, and the atmosphere is just different. You’re representing a little more than just a team,” he said.
“NHL players have been wanting to get back to the Olympics to get that feeling so just the prospect of possibly even being there is something that’s amazing. If I get that opportunity, it’s definitely something that I hope to take advantage of and obviously cherish that moment.”
Even with all the great coaches who have helped him get to where he is today, Fox is quick to credit his youth coach, Mike Bracco, for giving him a solid foundation on which he has built a great career.
“He was such a smart coach who taught us how to play hockey the right way and developed our skill,” Fox said. “It was me, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Bracco [on the Gulls team], so I think it’s no accident that we all kind of got to where we are, and I think he’s a big person to thank for that.”
It’s because of coaches like Bracco and countless others that Long Island hockey continues to flourish by developing players and teams that can compete on the state and national level. And whereas players like Fox, McAvoy, Sonny Milano and Matt Coronato grew up idolizing players from other states and counties, today kids on Long Island need only look at the growing list of homegrown stars skating on NHL rosters to find inspiration for their hockey careers.
“When I was growing up, it was almost when you got to a certain age, you had to leave Long Island to move on in hockey,” Fox said. “I think Long Island Hockey has grown tremendously. It’s obviously great to see and something we all take a lot of pride in. We loved growing up and playing for the Gulls, and I think all of us are pretty proud of how far hockey on Long Island has come.”