It was one of those full circle moments that can take an NHL superstar back to his youth hockey roots. 

Here was Charlie McAvoy back at a USA Hockey Player Development Camp listening to his one-time coach Don Granato talk about the path forward in the game. Only this time the Boston Bruins star was there in a different capacity, brought to the camp to talk to the next generation of American hockey hopefuls about his journey from the Long Island town of Long Beach to the pinnacle of his profession. 

“It was pretty full circle,” McAvoy recalled. “I was sitting in a chair listening to the other guest speakers talk about the next level and then having a chance to talk to the kids about my journey.” 

It wasn’t all that long ago that McAvoy was one of 240 of the nation’s best and brightest young players gathered at the Northtown Center in Amherst. As he sat there listening to Granato talk about the benefits of joining the National Team Development Program, McAvoy could only dream about a move that would change his life forever. 

“I remember watching a slideshow about the NTDP and thinking, ‘Whoa, what is that? I never heard of that,’” McAvoy recalled. “I remember thinking about how sick it would be to be a part of it, and then obviously it was a blessing to get the chance to do that.” 

McAvoy would jump at the opportunity that would change his life, moving to Ann Arbor, Mich., for his last two years of high school and following that up with two seasons at Boston University. The Bruins would draft the 18-year-old with the 14th pick in the 2016 NHL draft and he would make his NHL debut the following spring in the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs. 

It’s a journey that has its roots in Long Island youth hockey. He started skating at the age of 3 at Long Beach Arena, where his father, Charlie, Sr., helped install a studio rink as a plumbing and heating contractor. He would play several seasons with the Long Beach Apple Core where he would face off against a budding local star named Jeremy Bracco, whose father Mike, a former goaltender at Dartmouth College, would convince McAvoy’s father to have their sons join forces with the Long Island Gulls program. 

“That was the birth of what ended up being an incredibly special six or seven years,” McAvoy said. 

“The crop that we had from Long Island was unbelievable. We would win Silver Sticks, we’d go to [USA Hockey] Nationals. We had some really good runs. We were really competitive for a bunch of kids from Long Island, who no one thought of as like a hockey hot bed at all.” 

One of their most memorable accomplishments came at the 2012 New York State Championships, where McAvoy teamed up with Bracco and Adam Fox, who would plot his own course to future NHL stardom, to lead the Gulls to a 14 & Under title.  
Years later McAvoy can still name almost every one of his teammates and where their hockey careers took them. For one team from Long Island, the number of players who would go on to play professional hockey or at least Div. I college hockey is astounding. 

“It’s crazy to see how successful everybody was,” McAvoy said. “Youth hockey was fun. It’s always fun to be on a good team. And we are all still pretty close, too. I still have great memories.” 

Years later McAvoy would reunite with Bracco and Fox to help the U.S. win a gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship. McAvoy will join Fox once more at the NHL’s Four Nations Face Off, which takes place in February. 

The pair have regularly faced off against each other in college and during the NHL regular season, but being two of the first six players named to what promises to be a powerhouse U.S. team is a special honor. 

“The last time I played with Adam was at World Juniors, and we won a gold medal. So, we have a good track record,” said McAvoy, who attended Fox’s wedding earlier this summer just as Fox was at McAvoy’s wedding the year before. 

“Obviously we have a great relationship, so I can’t wait to do it again with him,” McAvoy added. “When I saw him a few weeks ago it was kind of like, ‘would you even believe it?’ If I told you that the two kids from the Long Island Gulls would be on the [U.S.] team but aside from that being two of the first six players named, it truly is remarkable and just an honor.” 

Over the course of his seven seasons in Boston McAvoy has become the cornerstone of one of the league’s most dominating teams. He anchors the Bruins top defensive unit, consistently ranking among the league’s top defensemen in minutes played, often pairing up against other team’s top lines. 

Soft spoken and humble, he has grown into one of the veteran leaders that young players can look up to for how he conducts himself on and off the ice. He owes a lot of that to his blue-collar roots and to the coaches who taught him to play the right way. 
“I’m very proud of being from Long Island and the success that we’ve been able to have. We had an amazing crop of players, and a lot of credit goes to Mike Bracco who coached us,” McAvoy said. 

“When you’re that young, the foundation that’s being laid is going to carry you wherever you go in hockey. We were really lucky to have somebody who played at a high level and who understood the game so well to lay that foundation. There is no question that he taught us the right things that we needed to learn and drove us to be good.” 

Dating back to his time with the NTDP, McAvoy has always stepped up when his country came calling. After the Bruins were eliminated from the playoffs in 2018, McAvoy was on a plane the next day and headed to Denmark to compete in the World Championship. Despite playing in only six games in the tournament McAvoy finished with nine points (three goals, six assists) to help the U.S. win a bronze medal. 

And with the NHL committed to send players to the next two Olympic Winter Games, McAvoy makes no secret of his desire to wear the red, white and blue on the biggest stage in sports.

“I was watching the opening ceremonies with my wife and I said, this is the coolest thing in the world, and I’d kill to be an Olympian and to be able to experience that. That’s been a dream,” he said. 

“Winning a Stanley Cup and then getting to play in the Olympics are two things that I would do absolutely anything for. Honestly, it gives me butterflies even thinking about it and talking about it. I know the responsibility is on me to do everything I can to be a part of that team. That’s the plan.” 

No matter where his hockey journey takes him, McAvoy’s heart will always be in Long Island. Whenever he sees the next wave of New Yorkers having success, such as Hauppauge’s James Hagans who is projected to be a top pick in the 2025 draft, he takes pride in knowing that the pipeline of talented players continues to flow out of Long Island.

 “I always feel a little bit of pride in that,” McAvoy said. “You definitely cheer really hard for your New York buddies.”