Don Thompson (ice hockey)

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Don Thompson
Born (1949-02-04) February 4, 1949 (age 72)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Height 5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Weight 150 lb (68 kg; 10 st 10 lb)
Position Forward
Played for Michigan State
New Haven Nighthawks
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 1969–1975

Donald "Zippy" Thompson is a Canadian retired ice hockey forward who was an All-American for Michigan State.[1]

Career[]

Thompson played a handful of games 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. Unfortunately, Thompson's maneuver was mistimed as the NCAA changed its long-standing police to limit student athletes to 3 seasons of varsity play that year. Beginning with the 1969–70 season, all incoming players would now have 4 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 (effectively rookie of the year).

Despite the lost season, Thompson did become a star 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. As a senior he finished 6th in the nation in scoring. All of his scoring accomplishments, however, couldn't help MSU finish better than 4th in the conference. 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-70s.[2]

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.

Career statistics[]

Regular season and playoffs[]

    Regular Season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1966–67 Etobicoke Indians MJBHL — — — — — — — — — —
1968–69 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 5 2 3 5 0 — — — — —
1969–70 Michigan State WCHA 24 14 18 32 24 — — — — —
1970–71 Michigan State WCHA 31 19 38 57 35 — — — — —
1971–72 Michigan State WCHA 35 32 35 67 66 — — — — —
Clinton Comets EHL 5 2 3 5 2 — — — — —
1972–73 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 33 2 12 14 8 — — — — —
1973–74 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 61 9 17 26 14 10 4 1 5 2
CnHL — 0 4 4 2 — — — — —
NCAA Totals 90 65 91 156 125 — — — — —
AHL Totals 94 11 29 40 22 10 4 1 5 2

Awards and honors[]

Award Year
All-WCHA First Team 1970–71 [3]
AHCA West All-American 1970–71 [1]
All-WCHA Second Team 1971–72 [3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "1970-1971 All-American Team". The American Hockey Coaches Association. Retrieved 2017-06-21.
  2. ^ "Michigan State hockey 2018-19 Media Guide" (PDF). Michigan State Spartans. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "WCHA All-Teams". College Hockey Historical Archives. Retrieved May 19, 2013.

External links[]

Awards and achievements
Preceded by WCHA Sophomore of the Year
1969–70 		Succeeded by
Award Discontinued
Retrieved from ""