Cats d-man has strong debut
Prince George Cougars fans might not be too familiar with defenceman Hudson Thornton right now, but give him time.
Inserted into the lineup for Saturday’s game in the Kamloops hub against the Vancouver Giants, the 17-year-old Thornton made a name for himself in his first career WHL game when he scored his first goal, scoring on a rush down the left wing he finished with a high wrist shot in over Trent Miner’s glove. That gave the Cougars a three-goal cushion to work with in what turned out a 6-3 victory.
Thornton has always shown his ability to produce points and direct traffic with his powerful skating stride and quick puck movement and the Cougars knew what they were getting when they chose him in the second round, 33rd overall in the 2018 WHL draft.
He was a standout in the Cougars’ training camp in the summer of 2018 and played that season for Rink Academy in his Winnipeg hometown. The following year he joined the Chilliwack Chiefs of the BCHL, where his older brother Kolby was playing goal, and in September 2019 he signed a letter of intent to play U.S. college hockey at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He went on to score six goals and has 11 assists in 54 regular season games and also played seven playoff games for the Chiefs.
Thornton returned to the Chilliwack last fall but with the BCHL season on hold Thornton accepted an offer to play in the United States Hockey League for the Fargo Force. In 22 games with the Force, he collected two goals and two assists. The Cougars have remained in contact with Thornton and his parents ever since he was drafted and on Feb. 26 he signed a WHL standard player agreement to officially become a Cougar.
“The college route is a really good route for a lot of guys but for me personally it came with a lot of moving parts,” said Thornton. “I was always talking to (Cougars head coach) Mark Lamb over the years and Bob (head scout Simmonds) and just kind of saw what was coming up with Prince George and how good the young core is going to be and what it’s going to be like a couple years down the road and just to have the opportunity to be part of that was something that was really appealing to me. To learn from guys like Mark Lamb and (associate coach) Jason Smith was also appealing to me.”
It took more than a month for Thornton to obtain his release from the USHL and he spent a week in Kamloops waiting for the paperwork to be finalized before he could start practicing with the Cats.
Being from Winnipeg, Thornton already knew several Cougars when he arrived. He played bantam and midget hockey with goalie Tyler Brennan. He also knows forward Jonny Hooker, a Winnipeg native, and played spring hockey with winger Craig Armstrong, picked in the first round in 2018 along with Brennan. Thornton and Cougar winger Michael Svenson were bantam teammates at Rink Academy. Ethan Samson, Thornton’s new defence partner, and winger Blake Eastman were also drafted by the Cats in 2018 and they got to know each other 2 1/2 years ago at the Cougars’ training camp.