Claire Thompson
Position: Defence
Hometown: Toronto
Age: 23

When defenceman Claire Thompson hits the ice on Friday in Calgary, she will be one of eight players making their Women’s Worlds debuts for Canada.

Thompson, age 23, alongside Ella Shelton (23), Jaime Bourbonnais (22) and Ashton Bell (21) represent a changing of the guard for Canada on defence as they transition to the next generation. While veterans like Jocelyne Larocque (33), Erin Ambrose (27) and Renata Fast (26) will be relied upon heavily, there is a big opportunity for the youth to step up.

However, unlike many of her teammates, Thompson has not played in a major tournament for Canada at any level, making her rise in recent years that much more impressive. 

Starting in 2013-14, the Toronto native kicked off her junior hockey career with the Toronto Aeros of the Provincial Women’s Hockey League. She captained the Aeros in 2015-16, a season where the team won the PWHL and provincial championship.

In 2016-17, Thompson took her talents to Princeton for her NCAA career. As a rookie, she recorded six goals and 20 points in 33 games and was named to the ECAC All-Academic Team.

As a sophomore, she had nine goals and 16 points in 32 games and earned second-team All-Ivy, ECAC All-Academic Team and AHCA All-America Scholar honours.

Thompson had a career season in her junior year, recording nine goals and a career-high 28 points in 33 games as Princeton won the Ivy League championship. She earned First-Team All-ECAC, First-Team All-Ivy League, and was a finalist for ECAC Best Defenceman. As well, she was an Academic All-Ivy League selection, on the ECAC All-Academic Team, and an AHCA All American Scholar.

She closed out her college hockey career on a strong note, captaining Princeton to their first-ever ECAC championship. Thompson finished as Second Team All-Ivy, Third Team All-ECAC, ECAC All-Academic Team, AHCA All-America Scholar and Academic All-Ivy League.

Princeton was scheduled to play in the NCAA tournament but it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After her college career, Thompson joined the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association as part of the Toronto chapter. She appeared with Toronto’s Team Sonnet at the 2021 Secret Cup in Calgary as they lost in the championship game to Montreal’s Team Bauer.

Thompson’s first taste with the national team came in August 2019 when she was invited to Canada’s U22/Development team for a three-game series against the United States.

She debuted with the Canadian national women’s team in November 2019 as Canada took on the United States in a two-game Rivalry Series in Pittsburgh.

Thompson made the final roster for the 2020 Women’s Worlds scheduled for Halifax and Truro, N.S., but her debut was shelved due to the pandemic.

In addition to the Women’s Worlds, Thompson is centralizing with Team Canada ahead of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.