Don Thompson (ice hockey)

Thompson briefly played for the Niagara Falls Flyers in 1968–69 but soon left the team so he could register as a freshman at Michigan State University. In doing so, he would be able to count the year as his freshman season and begin to play as a sophomore on the varsity squad in 1970. Shortly after Thompson joined Michigan State, the NCAA changed its long-standing police to limit student athletes to three seasons of varsity play. Beginning with the 1969–70 season, all incoming players had four years of eligibility. As a consequence, when Thompson was named as the WCHA Sophomore of the Year for 1970, he was the final player to receive that award.

Despite the lost season, Thompson became a standout player for the Spartans in the early-1970s. He led the team in scoring in each of his three seasons with the club and was named an All-American in 1971.^[2] As a senior, he finished sixth in the nation in scoring. When Thompson graduated he was the Sparta's all-time leading scorer, however, nearly all of his records were surpassed due to the deluge of scoring that occurred in the mid-1970s.^[3]

After college, Thompson played senior hockey briefly before becoming a beneficiary of the rapid expansion of professional hockey. Due to both the NHL's and WHA's demand for players, Thompson was able to sign a professional contract with the New Haven Nighthawks. He played parts of two seasons with the team, providing depth scoring and helping them reach the second round in 1974.

• Biographical information and career statistics from Eliteprospects.com, or The Internet Hockey Database