Joe Thornton is a legendary Canadian hockey player, a real world hockey star. During his many years of career, the striker played with dignity in the "bears" from Boston, and spent the last 14 seasons in the camp of "sharks" from San Jose. He has won victories at the Olympic Games and Ice Hockey World Cups.
Joe Thornton was born in Canada in southwestern Ontario in the city of London on July 2, 1979. The child's childhood was spent in the suburb of St. Thomas (Ontario), where the boy began to play hockey. Educated at a local school, after which he entered the Elgin Institute, located in St. Thomas. As you know, in Canada, attention is paid to hockey at all levels. There are school clubs as well as college and university teams playing in numerous student leagues in the Canadian provinces. While educated at school, Joe Thornton played hockey for the St. Thomas Travels team, and later moved to the Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs student club. Already at the age of 15, the central striker began to defend the colors of the St. Thomas Stars team, which played in one of the Canadian leagues in the province of Ontario.
Joe Thornton's playing potential was also seen in children's and youth clubs. His talent developed rapidly, and hard work on the ice rinks as part of the training process helped to progress every year. Gradually, Thornton became one of the most desirable rookies for the National Hockey League teams.
Joe Thornton's NHL career begins
Successful play in the Ontario Hockey League, where Thornton scored 71 goals and 127 assists in two seasons, determined Joe's high place in the 1997 NHL Draft. The Boston Bruins selected this striker in the first round under the overall first number. Such a high position in the National Hockey League draft goes exclusively to the most promising players in world hockey.
In Boston, Joe Thornton played 55 matches in his first season. The striker's performance was very modest: only three goals with four assists. Already in his next season in the NHL, Thornton got used to and began to show more productive hockey. In the 1998-1999 season, the center forward played 81 regular season matches and scored 41 points (16 goals, 25 assists). Thornton's stats continued to improve in subsequent seasons at the Bruins. The forward from 1999 to 2004 did not score less than twenty goals in a “smooth” championship. The Canadian achieved his best performance in the 2000-2001 championship, when he scored 37 goals in 72 matches. Thornton's sporting biography in Boston includes a season where the striker surpassed the 100-point mark for a smooth championship. This happened in 2002-2003, when Joe, according to the goal-plus-pass system, was able to earn 101 points (36 + 65).
In 2004, the NHL league was overtaken by a shutout, in connection with which Joe Thornton spent one season in Switzerland, playing for the local Davos. After the European experience, Joe returned to Boston again.
Joe Thornton's San Jose career
In the 2005-2006 season, the Canadian forward moved to the San Jose Sharks camp. Since then, up to the present time, Thornton has been one of the leaders of the club and its legend. In his first few seasons, Thornton made a personal and significant contribution to the overall performance of the Sharks. His statistics are impressive. In the first year in the team, the Canadian scored 92 points (20 + 72) in 58 games, in the second season - 114 points (22 + 92), in the 2007-2008 playing year - 96 points (29 + 67).
During his career, Joe Thornton won the prize, which is awarded to the most productive player in the NHL regular season - the Art Ross Trophy (2006-2007 season).
Despite his leadership qualities, Joe Thornton has not yet managed to lead San Jose to victory in the Stanley Cup over many seasons. Although the "sharks" played in the final, they lost in the decisive series.
Thornton made 73 appearances during the 2018-2019 National Hockey League regular season. During his time on the ice in these matches, the center forward scored 16 goals and gave 35 assists. The player's benefit to the team in the past season is also reflected in the statistics. The Canadian has an overall utility score of +8. At the same time, it is very rare for a Canadian to break the rules. He has only twenty penalty minutes in his liabilities.
Joe Thornton's career is still ongoing, and his overall stats in the NHL are already one of the best in the entire world hockey history. He has played over 1,500 regular season games and over 160 Stanley Cup playoff games (San Jose continues to fight for the main hockey club trophy in 2019). More than four hundred times with his precise throws he hit the goal of his rivals and more than a thousand times assisted his teammates.
Joe Thornton's performances for the Canadian national team
The famous Canadian center-forward has achieved international success in his career. In 1997, at the World Youth Championships, he won gold medals with the Canadian national team. In 2004, Thornton won the World Cup, in which the world's best hockey players took part in their national teams. There is also an Olympic gold medal in the Thornton collection. Its striker received the results of the Games in Vancouver in 2010. Joe Thornton won his second World Cup in 2016. In the decisive match, the Canadian national team in a series of two matches defeated the European team (the total score of the series is 2: 0).
The personal life of the Canadian hockey player is successful. During performances in Switzerland (2004) Thornton met Tabi Pfendsak, who became the hockey player's wife. The lovers have children: the girl Isla and the boy River.
