Claire Thompson (born January 28, 1998) is a Canadian ice hockey player for the Canadian women's national team and a reserve for PWHL New York of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL).[1][2] A graduate of Princeton University, she finished her career fifth in all-time points by a defenceman in Princeton Tigers history with a cumulative 87 points.
| Claire Thompson | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 28, 1998 Toronto, Ontario, Canada | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm) | ||
| Weight | 147 lb (67 kg; 10 st 7 lb) | ||
| Position | Defence | ||
| Shoots | Left | ||
| PWHL team Former teams | PWHL New York PWHPA Toronto | ||
| National team |  Canada | ||
| Playing career | 2016–present | ||
Medal record | |||
She made her debut for the Canada women's national ice hockey team in 2019 in a two-game series against the United States held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2] She won gold with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship.[3]
Thompson made her Olympic debut at the 2022 Winter Olympics held in Beijing, China. She helped Canada win gold and was named a tournament all-star.[4][5] At the 2022 Olympics, Thompson set the Olympic ice-hockey record for points by a defenceman. She tallied 13 points on two goals and nine assists, shattering the previous record of nine.[6]
Playing career
Hockey Canada
In August 2019, Thompson was named to Canada's Under-22/Development Team for a three-game series against the United States in Lake Placid, New York.[7] Thompson debutted for the Canada women's national ice hockey team in 2019 in a two-game series against the United States held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[2] She was then selected to attend the 2020 Women's Hockey World Championships that were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[8] She was one of 28 players invited to Hockey Canada's Centralization Camp, which represents the selection process for the Canadian women's team that shall compete in Ice hockey at the 2022 Winter Olympics.[9]
On January 11, 2022, Thompson was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team.[10][11][12] Thompson finished with the highest plus-minus rating of the Olympic tournament with +23.[13]
University
During her freshmen year with Princeton Tigers, Thompson skated in all 33 games finishing with 20 points on 6 goals and 14 assists; she was second in defence in scoring and the leading freshmen defender. She was also named to the ECAC All-Academic Team.[8]
In her sophomore season, Thompson the Tigers' defence in scoring, earning 21 points on 9 goals and 7 assists in 33 games. She was selected for Second-Team All-Ivy, ECAC All-Academic Team, and was named an AHCA All-America Scholar.[8]
After her junior year, Thompson finished third on the Princeton Tigers team in scoring, leading the defencemen with 28 points on 9 goals and 19 assists. She was sixth in the nation in points per game for a defenceman (0.85). The Tigers won the Ivy League championship this season. Thompson was selected for First-Team All-ECAC and First-Team All-Ivy League and was a finalist for ECAC Best Defenseman. Additionally, she was an Academic All-Ivy League selection, named to the ECAC All-Academic Team, and was an AHCA All-American Scholar.[8]
In her senior season with the Tigers, Thompson captained the team to their first-ever ECAC Championship.[14] The team was scheduled to play Northeastern University in the first round of the NCAA tournament; however, the tournament was cancelled by the NCAA due to COVID-19. Thompson led the team's defence in scoring, finishing the season with 23 points on 7 goals and 16 assists in 31 games. She was selected for Second-team All-Ivy, Third-team All-ECAC, ECAC All-Tournament team, a finalist for the ECAC Mandi Schwartz Student-Athlete of the Year, Academic All-Ivy honoree, ECAC All-Academic, and AHCA All-America Scholar.[8] Additionally, Thompson was selected as Princeton's nominee for NCAA woman of the year and was also a finalist for Princeton Athletics' C. Otto Von Kienbusch Award for Top Senior Female Student Athlete.[15][16]
Professional career
Thompson was a full-time student at NYU School of Medicine during the 2022–23 PWHPA season, but participated in PWHPA and Team Canada events when she was able. Due to increasing demands of her second year of medical school during the inaugural PWHL season, she received a compassionate waiver exemption to play for New York, but was unable to sign a full-time contract since she was only available when she did not have academic obligations. She intended to sign a reserve contract with the club, but was unable to do so because she was on a student visa. Although she initially planned to remain in school the following year, she decided instead to declare for the 2024 PWHL draft.[17]
Thompson was selected third overall by PWHL Minnesota in the 2024 PWHL draft.[18]
Career statistics
Regular season and playoffs
| Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
| 2013–14 | Toronto Jr. Aeros | PWHL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 2014–15 | Toronto Jr. Aeros | PWHL | 38 | 5 | 19 | 24 | 24 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 2015–16 | Toronto Jr. Aeros | PWHL | 34 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | ||
| 2016–17 | Princeton University | ECAC | 33 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 12 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2017–18 | Princeton University | ECAC | 32 | 9 | 7 | 16 | 30 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2018–19 | Princeton University | ECAC | 33 | 9 | 19 | 28 | 28 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2019–20 | Princeton University | ECAC | 31 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2020–21 | Toronto | PWHPA | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2022–23 | Team Sonnet | PWHPA | 20 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| NCAA totals | 129 | 31 | 56 | 87 | 97 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
International
| Year | Team | Event | Result | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Canada | WC |  | 7 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| 2022 | Canada | OG | | 7 | 2 | 11 | 13 | 2 | |
| 2023 | Canada | WC |  | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| Senior totals | 21 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 12 | ||||
Awards and honours
- 2017 ECAC All-Academic Team
- 2018 Second Team All-Ivy
- 2018 ECAC All-Academic Team
- 2018 AHCA All-America Scholar
- 2019 First Team All-Ivy
- 2019 First Team All-ECAC
- 2019 ECAC All-Academic Team
- 2019 AHCA All-America Scholar
- 2019 Academic All-Ivy League
- 2020 Second Team All-Ivy
- 2020 Third Team All-ECAC
- 2020 ECAC All-Academic Team
- 2020 AHCA All-America Scholar
- 2020 Academic All-Ivy League