Claire Thompson (ice hockey)

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Claire Thompson
Claire Thompson.jpg
Thompson with the Minnesota Frost in 2025
Born (1998-01-28) January 28, 1998 (age 27)
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 Vancouver
Minnesota Frost
PWHPA Toronto
National teamFlag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Playing career 2016–present
Medal record
Women's ice hockey
Representing Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
Olympic Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Beijing Team
World Championships
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2021 Canada
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2023 Canada
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2025 Czechia

Claire Thompson (born January 28, 1998) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the PWHL Vancouver of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL). She previously played for the Minnesota Frost. She played college ice hockey at Princeton Tigers, where she finished her career fifth in all-time points by a defenceman in program history with 87 points.

Contents

She made her debut for the Canadian national team in 2019 in a two-game series against the United States held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [1] She won gold with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF Women's World Championship. [2]

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. [3] [4] At the 2022 Olympics, Thompson set the Olympic ice-hockey record for points by a defenceman. She tallied 13 points on two goals and 11 assists, shattering the previous record of nine. [5]

Playing career

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. [6]

In her sophomore season, Thompson led 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. [6]

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. [6]

In her senior season with the Tigers, Thompson captained the team to their first-ever ECAC Championship. [7] 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. [6] 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. [8] [9]

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. [10]

At the draft, Thompson was selected third overall by PWHL Minnesota. [11] Soon after, she signed a two-year contract with the club, now rebranded as the Minnesota Frost. [12] During the 2024–25 season, in her rookie season, she recorded four goals and 14 assists in 30 games, and finished third in scoring by a defender. She also became the second player in league history to record four points in one game, in a 5–2 win over the Ottawa Charge on December 20, 2024. Following the season she was named a finalist for the PWHL Defender of the Year. [13] [14]

During the league's expansion to eight teams ahead of the 2025–26 season, Thompson was left unprotected by the Frost and signed a one-year contract with PWHL Vancouver, becoming the first player to join the new club. [15]

International play

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. [16] Thompson debuted for the Canada women's national ice hockey team in 2019 in a two-game series against the United States held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [1] She was then selected to attend the 2020 Women's Hockey World Championships that were not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [6] 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. [17]

On January 11, 2022, Thompson was named to Canada's 2022 Olympic team. [18] [19] [20] Thompson finished with the highest plus-minus rating of the Olympic tournament with +23. [21]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season TeamLeagueGP G A Pts PIM GPGAPtsPIM
2013–14 Toronto Jr. Aeros PWHL 1000031120
2014–15Toronto Jr. AerosPWHL385192424140554
2015–16Toronto Jr. AerosPWHL3451318141114512
2016–17 Princeton University ECAC 336142012—————
2017–18 Princeton UniversityECAC32971630—————
2018–19 Princeton UniversityECAC339192828—————
2019–20 Princeton UniversityECAC317162327—————
2020–21 Toronto PWHPA 40110—————
2022–23 Team SonnetPWHPA202462—————
2024–25 Minnesota Frost PWHL 3041418880664
PWHL totals3041418880664

International

YearTeamEventResultGPGAPtsPIM
2021 Canada WC Gold medal icon.svg70440
2022 Canada OG Gold medal icon.svg7211132
2023 CanadaWCSilver medal icon.svg702210
2025 CanadaWCSilver medal icon.svg62574
Senior totals274222616

Awards and honours

References

  1. 1 2 "National Women's Team Roster Unveiled for Series Against United States". hockeycanada.ca. Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  2. ↑ "Poulin scores golden goal". iihf.com. Archived from the original on September 1, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Poulin leads Canada to gold again". iihf.com. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  4. ↑ "Jenner MVP, all-stars announced". iihf.com. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  5. ↑ Fundaro, Gabriella (May 25, 2022). "2022 Top 25 Under 25 - 3: Claire Thompson". The Ice Garden. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Claire Thompson". goprincetontigers.com. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Champions! OT Goal Defeats No. 1 Cornell as No. 6 Princeton Wins First ECAC Title". goprincetontigers.com. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Thompson Selected as Princeton's Nominee for NCAA Woman of the Year". goprincetontigers.com. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  9. ↑ "Princeton Athletics Announces C. Otto von Kienbusch Award Finalists". goprincetontigers.com. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  10. ↑ Salvian, Hailey (June 5, 2024). "Why PWHL prospect Claire Thompson is putting medical school on hold to return to hockey". The Athletic . Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  11. ↑ Kennedy, Ian (June 10, 2024). "Claire Thompson is back, selected by Minnesota Third Overall". The Hockey News. Retrieved June 11, 2024.
  12. ↑ "PWHL Minnesota signs Claire Thompson to two-year contract". Daily Faceoff. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Fast, Jaques, Thompson Voted PWHL Defender of the Year Finalists". thepwhl.com. May 14, 2025. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
  14. ↑ "Renata Fast, Sophie Jaques and Claire Thompson named finalists for PWHL's top defender award". The Globe and Mail. May 14, 2025. Archived from the original on May 15, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  15. ↑ "PWHL Vancouver signing Frost's Jacques, Thompson as first players". Sportsnet . June 4, 2025. Retrieved June 4, 2025.
  16. ↑ "Canada 2019 NWDT Series Vs. United States Roster". hockeycanada.ca. Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  17. ↑ "CANADA'S NATIONAL WOMEN'S TEAM UNVEILS OLYMPIC CENTRALIZATION ROSTER: 28 players to centralize in Calgary ahead of 2022 Olympic Winter Games". hockeycanada.ca. May 12, 2021. Retrieved May 17, 2021.
  18. ↑ Awad, Brandi (January 11, 2022). "Team Canada's women's hockey roster revealed for Beijing 2022". Canadian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original on January 22, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Canada's 2022 Olympic women's hockey team roster". Canadian Press . Toronto, Ontario, Canada. January 11, 2022. Archived from the original on January 12, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  20. ↑ "2022 Olympic Winter Games (Women)". www.hockeycanada.ca/. Hockey Canada. January 11, 2022. Archived from the original on January 15, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  21. ↑ "IIHF - Statistics 2022 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES WOMEN'S ICE HOCKEY TOURNAMENT". IIHF International Ice Hockey Federation. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Minnesota Frost capture second Walter Cup title". Sportsnet.ca. May 26, 2025. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
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