This past weekend, the 15-year-old Russell product put pen to paper on a standard player agreement with the Western Hockey League’s Winterhawks, the team that drafted him 105th overall in the fifth round of the 2019 WHL Bantam Draft. 

Thompson – a puck-moving defenceman – spent the 2018-19 season with the RHA Nationals Bantam Prep squad, suiting up for 55 games, while producing five goals, 36 points and 28 penalty minutes. The 5-foot-10, 150-pound blueliner previously skated with his local AAA program in Parkland, collecting two goals, 21 points and 30 penalty minutes in 36 contests for the Bantam Rangers.

The Nationals’ leading point scorer on the back-end will look to join Winnipeg’s Joel Hofer, Seth Jarvis, Nick Cicek, Rylan Bettens, and Souris’ Tyson Kozak on Portland’s roster in the coming years. Other Manitobans who attended Winterhawks rookie camp skates include Dawson Pasternak, Aiden Litke, Grant White and Zach Nicolas.

Portland – under the leadership of Winnipegger and first draft selection ever by the Vegas Golden Knights Cody Glass – finished the 2018-19 season third in the U.S. Division while going 40-22-6. Despite a decent record, the Winterhawks fell in five games to Spokane in the first round of the WHL Playoffs. 

Carter Brooks

Carter Brooks - Associate Editor of Game On Magazine - is a news writer and sports columnist situated in Winnipeg, MB. On top of reading and writing, his favourite pastimes include camping, car-modification projects and coaching hockey. Carter can be reached at carterbrooks1994@gmail.com.