LONG BEACH, N.Y. — Charlie McAvoy was made on Long Island. Specifically, Long Beach, a strip of land on the island’s southern coast.
This town that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean is home to Long Beach Municipal Ice Arena. At the rink, formerly the New York Rangers’ practice facility, a 3-year-old McAvoy, upon his father’s urging, took his first skate, albeit with some tears that required post-twirl wiping.
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Long Beach is where Charles A. McAvoy Plumbing & Heating, the four-generation family business owned and run by father Charlie, uncle Kevin and cousins K.C. and Robert, has operated for 95 years. Long Beach’s waves are where McAvoy surfed, its boardwalk where his dad now rides his Cannondale road bike. Park Avenue, the town’s main drag, is home to Brand’s Delicatessen, where a teenage McAvoy washed dishes and took out the garbage.
This is Islanders country. The proof is on Brand’s counter, where Butch Goring and Bill Torrey pennants hang on a hockey trophy. Nassau Coliseum is about a 20-minute drive east from McAvoy Plumbing & Heating and north on the Meadowbrook Parkway. McAvoy once played at the Coliseum, where he was coached by Mark Messier, as a member of the Junior Rangers.
McAvoy still bears the generous cheeks passed down by mother Jennifer, a third-grade teacher in Bethpage. His voice is free, however, of the Long Island accent that speckles his father’s speech.
McAvoy, a two-year Boston University Terrier and a five-year Bruin, is a Bostonian now. He trains at BU during the offseason. The Seaport is his year-round home. If he spends two weeks per year in Long Beach, his father considers that a win.
“I’ve lost him,” McAvoy Sr., wearing a gray McAvoy Plumbing & Heating t-shirt and a black Bruins hat, said with a laugh. “I’ve lost him.”

Deep pipes — er, roots
On Wednesday, the day before Game 3, McAvoy Sr. was on the job. He was part of a crew building a new house at Point Lookout, a neighborhood on Long Beach’s easternmost tip. It’s been one of his primary sites for the last two months. In the boiler room, he pointed out the metering equipment, water main and hot water tank.
It’s been a busy time for McAvoy Plumbing & Heating. Last year, while his son was idle during the NHL’s pause, McAvoy Sr. had no such downtime. His Ford E-250, which bears two Bruins stickers on the right back door, was regularly on the move.
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“We live in an area where there’s a lot of commuting. It’s an hour train ride to Manhattan,” McAvoy Sr. said. “All the people working from home, they’re no longer flushing toilets in the office buildings. They’re flushing their own toilets. Things are breaking. I have to say, thank God, that during the pandemic, I worked every day. I worked every day with a mask on.”

Plumbing is in the family’s bones. Charles A. McAvoy, the Bruins defenseman’s great-grandfather, founded the company in 1926.
As a boy, Charlie helped dig trenches for sewer mains. He was good at it. He was better at hockey.
“Plumbing’s not an easy job,” McAvoy Sr. said. “It’s a dirty job. But somebody’s got to do it sometimes.”
“Jobs like this,” he added, walking up the stairs of the under-construction home with a waterfront view of Jones Inlet, “these are beautiful jobs.”
The McAvoys are deep in Islanders territory. But they are Rangers fans. Plumbing is the reason behind the allegiance.
John Ferguson, Jean Ratelle, Eddie Giacomin, John Davidson and Ron Greschner were some of McAvoy Plumbing & Heating’s customers when the Rangers used Long Beach Arena as their practice rink. McAvoy Sr. used to play hockey with John Ferguson Jr., now the Bruins’ executive director of player personnel. The Rangers regularly gave the McAvoys tickets to games at Madison Square Garden.
Young Charlie, in all likelihood, kept his Blueshirt fandom quiet when he got serious about Long Island hockey. He spent his mite seasons with the Apple Core program out of Long Beach Arena.
McAvoy advanced to the Long Island Gulls, an association once based at Ice Works in Syosset, formerly the Islanders training facility. His dad was one of his coaches. So was Mike Bracco, father of Jeremy Bracco, a 2015 Toronto second-round pick.
The Gulls were powerful. Teammates included Bracco, Adam Fox and Owen Sillinger, son of ex-Islanders forward Mike Sillinger. Via Sillinger, the McAvoys attended occasional Islanders games at the Coliseum.
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The big, fast and athletic defenseman — football, lacrosse, baseball and surfing were other pursuits — promptly turned heads when he played for the Gulls. McAvoy got invited to all the showcases in Toronto, Florida, and even in Boston with the Junior Bruins.
Bob Thornton, coach of the New Jersey Rockets and a Manhasset resident, took a particular interest.
“He had really good size,” Thornton recalled. “He had to grow into his body. When I look at kids that are younger that are not fully developed yet but are pretty tall, players like that can become men as they get older. He just grew and got bigger. Very coachable.”
McAvoy played for the Rockets as a 14-year-old, regularly competing against 17- and 18-year-olds. It wasn’t easy for McAvoy to get to practice at the Prudential Center in Newark. After school, he took the Long Island Rail Road to Penn Station in Manhattan. He then switched to the PATH to get to Newark Penn Station.
After practice, Thornton drove the teenager to his Manhasset home, and either McAvoy’s father or mother would drive 40 minutes to pick up their son.
What seemed like a tedious commute would soon be their shortest. After his 2012-13 season with the Rockets, a 15-year-old McAvoy would be eligible for the U.S. National Team Development Program in Ann Arbor, Mich. An invitation never came.
McAvoy was crushed. His father could tell as they drove from Long Beach to Toronto for the 2013 OHL Cup, the annual showcase for some of the top Canadian and American players.
After only a few games at the tournament, it was clear that McAvoy was among the best performers. Representatives from the Orr Hockey Group introduced themselves to McAvoy Sr. USA Hockey corrected its initial omission.
That fall, McAvoy moved to Ann Arbor to attend the U.S. NTDP. He took off from there.
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“He’s one of a handful of kids I’ve had to make that program,” said Thornton, whose previous charges include John Carlson, Kevin Labanc and Zach Aston-Reese. “In Ann Arbor, they dress eight defensemen. Going in there, it’s going to be a fight for ice time. The more you watched, the more he took over. I wasn’t worried about him going there. You have to start from the bottom. And he did. There were guys ahead of him. Just his attitude, he doesn’t get rattled too easily. What you give him, he makes the most of. Then he gets better. He earned his way up the ladder there for sure.”

Becoming a Bruin
By June 2016, the Bruins had a decision. They liked McAvoy with the 14th pick. He wasn’t a slam dunk.
Following debate, what pushed the Bruins toward McAvoy, who had completed his freshman season at BU, was their projection of an all-around defenseman. Ten months after drafting him in the first round, the Bruins called upon McAvoy to make an accelerated appearance in the first round of the 2017 playoffs against Ottawa.
The McAvoys received late notice of their son’s pending debut. They caught a flight to Ottawa. McAvoy played 24:11 in his first game. Father and son met for a postgame hug.
“Dad, I just played in the NHL,” McAvoy said.
“Oh my gosh, you sure did,” his father replied.
The boy was 19 then. He is a 23-year-old man now, leaner and harder. Some disagree. In the first round, during a scrum, Washington’s Nic Dowd called McAvoy fat. The defenseman responded with a laugh.
Portly or not, McAvoy has exceeded his employer’s early expectations. McAvoy is a game-changer in all areas: five-on-five alongside former BU partner Matt Grzelcyk, on the penalty kill and at the point on the No. 1 power-play unit. Through seven games, McAvoy leads the Bruins with 26:48 of average ice time per game.
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“Maybe not quite to where he’s at now,” president Cam Neely acknowledged of the staff’s pre-draft projection. “But there were certainly a lot of conversations about him being able to be a No. 1 defenseman in the National Hockey League. It’s up to him to put the work in, which he’s done. You can see the skill set, the skating, the fact he can play a lot of minutes. We saw that in him. He’s really taken it to another level this year. Good on him.”
The Islanders thrive on the forecheck. They can target defensemen like Jeremy Lauzon, who does not have the footwork, puck skills or processing power of McAvoy. Not many defensemen do. McAvoy has it all, from smooth and explosive skating to fearlessness with the puck to high-pressure decision-making to physicality.
At heart, McAvoy is an abrasive defender who thrives on punishment. Jordan Staal learned that the hard way in last year’s playoffs.
“I love the way he plays physically,” Thornton said. “He’s not going to back down. He’s not too good for that. He’s not a soft player. He’ll do whatever it takes to win a hockey game. He’s a good leader. He’ll be a captain one day of that team. He’ll wear a letter at some point. He’s very loyal. He gives it his all. He’s not a one-way player by any means.”
This may trace back to McAvoy’s blue-collar roots. His family’s profession requires dirty hands.
“We’re a plumbing company that does OK,” McAvoy Sr. said. “We’re just plumbers.”

Boston is now home
McAvoy was tired. In the third period of Game 1, the defenseman returned to the bench after a 73-second shift. As soon as he sat down, McAvoy had to stand up. A David Pastrnak hat trick required a proper celebration.
“The music after, the hats and everything, hearing the crowd just go wild,” McAvoy said with a smile. “In a nutshell, it’s a small piece, but it’s something about what’s so special about being a Boston Bruin being embodied in that moment.”
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McAvoy’s father and mother were there. They will be at Game 3 in Bruins jerseys.
“I’m a little nervous to even show up there with Bruins gear on,” McAvoy Sr. admitted. “With my Irish temper, you might be reading about me in the paper. That’s the temper Charlie doesn’t have, by the way.”
Game 4 may be iffy. The clan will be in Rochester attending the graduation of Heather, Charlie’s sister. McAvoy Sr. projected a second-period arrival if things go well.
Every game they attend is special. The boy who kept his hockey bag by the door to expedite prompt departures for practice is in command. At times, Jennifer and Charlie cannot help but turn to each other in disbelief at the spectacle they are watching.
That is their son, and he is doing special things.
(Top photo: Adam Glanzman / Getty Images)
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