Jim Higgins (ice hockey)

Jim Higgins
Biographical details
Born	Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Playing career
1960–1963	Boston University
Position	Defenseman
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1967–1970	Falmouth High School
1970–1974	Dartmouth (assistant)
1974–1975	Brown (assistant)
1975–1977	Colgate
1977–1991	Princeton
Head coaching record
Overall	151-251-21 (.382)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
	2013 John "Snooks" Kelly Founders Award

Last updated October 29, 2025

Jim Higgins is an American retired ice hockey player and coach. Higgins is most remembered for his time at Princeton, coaching the Tigers for 14 years after spending the preceding decade building a coaching career.^[1] While Higgins failed to produce a single winning season during his time as a college head coach ^[2] he is nevertheless the winningest ice hockey coach at Princeton since World War II (as of 2019).^[3] In recognition of his career Higgins was awarded the John "Snooks" Kelly Founders Award in 2013.^[4]

Regular season and playoffs

			Regular season					Playoffs
Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1960–61	Boston University	NCAA	11	0	1	1	4	—	—	—	—	—
1961–62	Boston University	ECAC Hockey	24	0	2	2	12	—	—	—	—	—
1962–63	Boston University	ECAC Hockey	9	1	1	2	0	—	—	—	—	—
NCAA totals			44	1	4	5	16	—	—	—	—	—

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Colgate Red Raiders (ECAC Hockey)(1975–1977)
1975–76	Colgate	9-16-0	6-14-0	13th
1976–77	Colgate	12-16-0	10-14-0	12th
Colgate:		21-32-0	16-28-0
Princeton Tigers (ECAC Hockey)(1977–1991)
1977–78	Princeton	9-14-2	7-13-1	14th
1978–79	Princeton	5-17-4	2-15-4	16th
1979–80	Princeton	11-15-0	9-12-0	11th
1980–81	Princeton	12-13-0	10-11-0	t-10th
1981–82	Princeton	9-14-3	7-12-2	13th
1982–83	Princeton	9-14-2	7-12-2	13th
1983–84	Princeton	6-18-1	5-15-1	t-15th
1984–85	Princeton	12-14-2	7-12-2	8th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1985–86	Princeton	11-17-2	7-13-0	9th
1986–87	Princeton	8-17-1	7-14-1	10th
1987–88	Princeton	12-15-1	11-10-1	t-6th	ECAC Quarterfinals
1988–89	Princeton	6-19-1	4-17-1	11th
1989–90	Princeton	12-14-1	11-10-1	7th	ECAC First Round
1990–91	Princeton	8-18-1	7-14-0	10th	ECAC First Round
Princeton:		130-219-21	101-180-16
Total:		151-251-21
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

^[5]^[6]

References

↑ "2013 AHCA Major Awards Are Announced". American Hockey Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
↑ "Jim Higgins Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
↑ "AHCA Announces 2013 Award Winners". College Hockey News. January 17, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
↑ "Former Coach Jim Higgins Named Recipient of AHCA Founders Award". Princeton Tigers. January 21, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
↑ "Colgate hockey Record Book" (PDF). Colgate Raiders. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
↑ "2008-09 Princeton hockey Media Guide" (PDF). Princeton Tigers. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

External links

Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com , or The Internet Hockey Database

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "2013 AHCA Major Awards Are Announced". American Hockey Coaches Association. Archived from the original on July 24, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

[2] "Jim Higgins Year-by-Year Coaching Record". USCHO.com. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

[3] "AHCA Announces 2013 Award Winners". College Hockey News. January 17, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

[4] "Former Coach Jim Higgins Named Recipient of AHCA Founders Award". Princeton Tigers. January 21, 2013. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

[5] "Colgate hockey Record Book" (PDF). Colgate Raiders. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

[6] "2008-09 Princeton hockey Media Guide" (PDF). Princeton Tigers. Retrieved August 16, 2014.

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v t e Colgate Raiders men's ice hockey
Formerly the Colgate Red Raiders
Playing venues	Taylor Lake (1916–1922) Starr Rink (1959–2016) Class of 1965 Arena (2016–present)
Head coaches	James Ballantine (1920–1922, 1927–1928) Raymond A. Watkins (1928–1932) J. Howard Starr (1932–1941, 1945–1950) Gregory Batt (1942–1943) Albert Prettyman (1943–1944) Tom Dockrell (1950–1951) Olav Kollevoll (1957–1965) Ron Ryan (1965–1972) Brad Houston (1972–1975) Jim Higgins (1975–1977) Terry Slater (1977–1991) Brian Durocher (1991–1992) Don Vaughan (1992–2003, 2004–2023) Stan Moore (2003–2004) Mike Harder (2023–present)
Seasons	1915–16 1916–17 1920–21 1921–22 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Conference affiliations	Tri-State League (1950–1951) ECAC Hockey (1961–present)
All-time leaders	Mike Harder (214 Points) Dan Fridgen (114 Goals) Dan Brenzavich/Steve Silverthorn (55 Wins)
Frozen Four appearances	1990
NCAA Tournament appearances	1981 1990 2000 2005 2014 2023
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC Hockey: 1990 2023
Colgate University Hamilton, NY

v t e Princeton Tigers men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Lake Carnegie (1907–1923) Hobey Baker Memorial Rink (1923–present)
Head coaches	Russell O. Ellis (1920–1921) Moylan McDonnell (1921–1922) Chippy Gaw (1922–1924) Beattie Ramsay (1924–1927) Lloyd Neidlinger (1927–1933) Frank Fredrickson (1933–1935) Richard Vaughan (1935–1943, 1946–1959) R. Norman Wood (1959–1965) Johnny Wilson (1965–1967) Bill Quackenbush (1967–1973) Jack Semler (1973–1977) Jim Higgins (1977–1991) Don Cahoon (1991–2000) Len Quesnelle (2000–2004) Guy Gadowsky (2004–2011) Bob Prier (2011–2014) Ron Fogarty (2014–2024) Ben Syer (2024–Present)
Seasons	1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25 2025–26
Conference affiliations	Intercollegiate Hockey Association (1899–1913) Intercollegiate Hockey League (1912–1917) Triangular Hockey League (1919–1926) Pentagonal League (1933–1943, 1946–1955) ECAC Hockey (1961–Present)
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders John Messuri (178 Points) Ryan Kuffner (75 Goals) Zane Kalemba (57 Wins)
NCAA Tournament appearances	1998 2008 2009 2018
Conference Tournament titles	ECAC: 1998 2008 2018
Princeton University Princeton, NJ

Jim Higgins (ice hockey)

Contents

Regular season and playoffs

Head coaching record

References

External links