Royals Agree to Terms with Forward Brock Higgs

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms of the AHL, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with forward Brock Higgs. He is the ninth player announced as signed by the Royals to an ECHL Standard Players Contract for the 2014-15 season, joining forwards Kyle Bodie, Ryan Cruthers, Adam Hughesman, Domenic Monardo, Kevin Walrod and Sean Wiles and defensemen Jordan Heywood and Bryant Molle. Consistent with team policy, terms of the SPC were not released.

Video comments of Head Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Larry Courville on the signing of Higgs can be viewed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGiw4qvrJ_c.

Last season, in his senior year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Higgs (5’11/187) (22), who hails from Kingston, Ontario, was the team’s second leading scorer with fourteen goals and sixteen assists (thirty points) in thirty-seven games. Higgs, who received the team’s Ben Mayo Most Inspirational Player award, also led the Engineers with 59 penalty minutes. After the conclusion of his final season at RPI, Higgs joined the Worcester Sharks of the AHL where he had an immediate impact, which included scoring the game winning goal in a 4-0 win over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in his second pro game. Higgs went on to finish with six points (3g-3a) and four penalty minutes in sixteen games with the Sharks.

Higgs storied collegiate career at RPI actually began on a somewhat scary note in his freshman season when he suffered a horrific injury to his throat and neck area from the blade of a teammate’s skate. Higgs not only recovered from that injury, he was selected as the team’s Rookie of the Year. In his sophomore season, Higgs led the Engineers with twenty-three points (3g-20a) in thirty-four games. However, he may have saved the best for last at RPI, when he served as a team captain and earned a nomination for the Hobey Baker Award, which is bestowed upon the nation’s top college hockey player.

Recognition for the athletic accomplishments and off-ice character of Higgs, who ended with 27 goals and 91 points in 137 games at RPI, accumulated at an accelerated pace after the conclusion of his collegiate career. This past April, Higgs, who is expected to receive a joint Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in August, was selected as the 2014 recipient of the Men’s Hockey CLASS Award, which is a nationwide award bestowed upon the senior player who exhibits excellence in the classroom, community, character and competition. In May, Higgs received the Livingston W. Houston Citizenship Award at RPI honoring the ‘First Citizen of the College,” for character, leadership, scholarship and athletic ability. The school also honored Higgs with the Henry Kumpf Award, recognizing a senior student athlete for motivation, desire and determination.

The Royals open the 2014-15 season on Saturday, October 19, at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia, where the team will face the Wheeling Nailers. The home portion of the schedule will kick off the following Saturday (October 25, 2014 @ 7:05 pm) when the Elmira Jackals will travel to Santander Arena. Royals’ season tickets are currently available. Call 610-898-7825 for more information or log onto www.royalshockey.com.