Biography
Joe Thornton – A Canadian-American Professional Ice Hockey Player, Representing San Jose Sharks in The NHL, Who Kicked Off His Career by The 1995 OHL Draft
Joe Thornton
Joseph Eric Thornton(Joe Thornton) is a half Canadian half American professional ice hockey center and also an alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League. He was born on the 2nd of July, 1979 on St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada. He is a Centre for his team.
The Career of Joe Thornton
Joe Thornton started playing minor hockey in his hometown for the St. Thomas Travelers. He appeared in six games during his Bantam years for the Junior B St. Thomas Stars of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA). He joined the stars full-time and reeled off 104 points over 50 games and was drafted second overall in the 1995 OHL Draft to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Thorton began a two-year career in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) with the greyhounds at the beginning of 1995-96. He earned both OHL and CHL Rookie of the year honors after posting a 76-point season in his first year. He got the name as OHL Second All-Star Team.
Thorton was selected first overall in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins after his second OHL Season. ON the 3rd of December, 1997, he scored his first NHL goal in a 3-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. He was made a regular healthy scratch by his then-coach Pat Burns. He registered 3 goals and seven points in 55 games as a rookie.
Thornton kept on improving turning into a key player in the Bruins lineup. He got the name for team captain and recorded 68 points over 66 games. He notched his first career 100-point season with 36 goals and 65 assists which was his career-high. Thornton suffered a fracture in his right cheekbone after a fight with New York Rangers center Eric Lindros during a game on the 19th of January, 2004 and his last 30-goal season came during the 2002-03 season.
More About Joe
After Thornton’s production decreased from 73 points over 77 games, he went abroad to play for HC Davos of the Swiss National League A (NLA). He played with HC Davos helping them to a league Championship and Spengler Cup win. He became a restricted free agent in the summer of 2005 and later re-signed with the team on 11th of August, 2005 to a three-year contract which was worth 20 million US dollars. Joe went to the San Jose Sharks in a four-player deal and was the team’s leading scorer at the time by a substantial margin. He became the first player to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer while splitting the season between the two teams.
He received the award, the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league’s regular-season MVP. Joe is the only player to win the trophy while playing for two different teams. Joe signed a three-year contract extension worth 21.6 US million dollars with the Sharks. He got the name of the captain of the Western Conference for the 2009 NHL All-Star game in Montreal. He again signed a three-year extension on the 24th of January, 2014 with the sharks and ranked 46th on all-time point leader and 24th on the all-time assist leaders for the NHL. Thornton has also played internationally for Canada’s Under 19 team and Canadian Men’s team. He has also appeared on the 2004 world cup, 2006 winter Olympics and 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Thornton married Tabea Pfendsack and has a daughter and a son. He is also a cousin of Scott Thornton.
