Former NHL player Tom Fitzgerald on growing up in Billerica, Tom Glavine the hockey player and more

Tom Fitzgerald spent 18 seasons in the NHL and played for seven different teams, including the Islanders, Panthers, Avalanche, Predators, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Bruins.

The 49-year-old Billerica native is the assistant general manager for the Devils. He played his collegiate hockey at Providence College and he’s now watching two of his four sons embark on their professional careers.

He recently spoke with BostonSportsJournal.com about his career and what it was like growing up in Billerica, why he’s not a fan of Fenway Park and the reason he’s never been to a Patriots game.

Joe McDonald: You grew up in Billerica but started playing youth hockey in Charlestown, what was that like?

Fitzgerald: I played my Mites there, three years of Mites. I was living in Billerica but driving back and forth. Then my last year of Mites, I transitioned into Billerica Youth Hockey.

(Playing youth hockey) was really the 10 best years, the funniest years I’ve had. The group of kids I grew up with, I played with them every year. Your friendships grew and you had an abundance of teammates, but it was great.

Billerica’s a great hockey town. I said this when I was playing for the Bruins, my dream growing up was to play for Billerica High School, because that’s who I watched growing up. Sure, you went to your one Bruins game a year, and that was special, and hockey was special back then because of the Bobby Orr era, of course, and that’s all we knew. There weren’t many rinks and you practiced once a week and you played one game a weekend. If you were lucky, the A’s split with the B teams and you got an extra sheet of ice and that was it. I didn’t play spring hockey. I played baseball and in the fall I played football and soccer. I went to my one summer hockey camp right before tryouts and tryouts were be right after Labor Day. I went to the U-Lowell hockey camp with Billy Riley and that was my summers.

It was disappointing not going to Billerica High because I wanted other little kids to watch me play like I watched the Arnolds, or the Jenkins’. I was crushed my 8th-grade year going into high school the head coach asked my dad, ‘He’s coming, right?’ My dad told him, ‘I don’t think so. His mother wants him to go to Austin Prep.’ It was my dad that actually wanted me to go. I was going to play on the first line at Billerica with Tommy Glavine and I was so disappointed – no knock on Austin Prep. By the end of my Austin Prep days it was special. I talked about youth hockey and 10 kids from Billerica were on our state championship team that I grew up playing with from Mites through our senior year in high school, including my brother and that was really special.

McDonald: Youth sports have completely changed, but how would you describe the relationships you still have with those kids you played with in youth hockey?

Fitzgerald: They’re all my best friends. We were in each other’s weddings, so it really is a special group. Those are friendships you’re always going to have, and to this day, it’s something I cherish. My dad would always say, ‘Don’t ever forget where you came from.’ That’s something I’ve held strong to. I may have played pro hockey for a living, but I’m just a normal guy that likes to have a beer with everybody else – away from the rink.

McDonald: You mentioned Glavine, what type of player would he have been if he decided to stick with hockey and not baseball?

Fitzgerald: He was a star hockey player growing up, and those guys in his age bracket, all went on to play pro hockey. He was, if not the best, he was one of the top players in that age bracket and my guess is he would have been playing pro hockey, too. I’m not sure he would have made as much money, or play as long, but he was a hell of a hockey player.

Like I said, thinking I had a chance to play right wing on his line (at Billerica High) was something I would have cherished and I was very disappointed to go to Austin Prep (laughs). Not only did I miss out playing with Glavine on varsity, I had to play on the freshman team at Austin Prep because freshman couldn’t play on the varsity for the first year. I was like, ‘This stinks’ and I tell that to a lot of people now that I only played three years of high school hockey because I played on the freshman team. I played Midget hockey and freshman hockey and three years of varsity, that’s it.

McDonald: What your most vivid sports memory as a kid?

Fitzgerald: Honestly, as a kid growing up it was coming into the Garden and watching Billerica play. Yeah, the state high school tournament was something we looked forward to every year. As kids, it wasn’t crowded and you’d run around. I’m not sure how much hockey I watched because we had the freedom to run around.

It’s funny, when my older boys were playing in the Garden, my youngest sons were doing the same thing I was doing as a kid. They weren’t watching the games, they were running around, playing tag or hide-and-seek in the stands. I remember coming home from school, driving in, parking over at Thompson Square and taking the train over. That’s what I remember and it was great.

Growing up, you always wanted to play in the Garden for high school and I finally got to the state championship team my senior year, and they moved my Austin Prep team down a division because of enrollment, so they moved us to the Worcester Centrum. I couldn’t play in the Garden and we won the state championship. We would have killed CM (Catholic Memorial) that year and that was disappointing because how grew up, watching and wanting to live out that dream as a kid. I didn’t go to a Beanpot school, so my first-ever game (in the Garden) was my third year as a pro, playing the Bruins, which was a special day. Those are the memories I have.