Photo: André Ringuette/Freestyle Photography
The Ottawa Black Bears have locked down their starting goaltender through the 2027–28 NLL season. Zach Higgins signed the two-year extension on Thursday.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Higgins. “They have some faith in me and want to keep me around, I think that’s pretty exciting, and I love the culture here that we’re trying to build and all the boys on the team, so it’s going to be great for another two years. I think we’ve kind of aligned a lot of guys with the length of our contracts.”
A native of Courtice, Higgins has played in 157 regular season games since entering the league with Minnesota in 2014. Last season, Higgins faced the most shots (925) and recorded the second-most saves (731) in the NLL. His 1064:56 minutes played last season were a career high.
“That’s pretty well it,” answered Higgins when asked if searching for an NLL championship is what drives him at this point in his career. “12th or 13th season, I can’t even keep count now, but yeah, still trying to just win. That’s kind of the goal I have each year, is to find a way to win the season, so that’s kind of the drive I have every day.”
Among players who played at least 40 per cent of their team’s minutes, Higgins ranked among the league’s leaders in saves (second), wins (fifth), goals-against average (sixth), and save-percentage (sixth).
This year, the Black Bears will play four Friday home games and five Saturday home games from November to April.
Next up is a Saturday home game against Philadelphia Wings on Dec. 27 at Canadian Tire Centre.
You can view the team’s entire schedule here, purchase Season Seats here, and Single Game tickets here.
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