Prince George Cougars fans might not be too familiar with defenceman Hudson Thornton right now, but give him time.
It’s still early in major junior career but he’s already showing signs he’s going to become a star in the Western Hockey League.
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.
“Fischer O’Brien saw me coming up the wall and made a nice pass to me and I knew I kind of had a break and was thinking I’d try to take it to the net but saw the d-man kind of closing in on me and just decided to shoot,” said Thornton whose team faces the Giants tonight in Kamloops (7 p.m. start). “I saw Miner was out a bit on his right side so I decided to shoot on his left side and it went in. I was just happy it was a good shot and put our team in the lead even more.”
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. The Giants are known around the WHL as a heavy, hard-hitting team and Thornton felt that firsthand in his major junior debut.
“It’s pretty similar to the USHL, maybe they finish their checks a bit more in this league, something I’ll get used to, but I’m a confident player and the big thing for me going forward is just trying to find the style I want to play in this league,” said Thornton. “I want to be an offensive defenceman that can produce from the back end and once I figure that out it’s going to be pretty fun. I’m going to be a guy who’s effective on the power play and a guy who takes pride in defending hard in his d-zone and helping the goalie out. I pride myself off working hard and maybe a guy going forward who’s going to try to be a leader for these young guys. We have a young group and it’s really exciting.”
Thornton has a late birthday and won’t turn 18 until Nov. 4, which makes him draft-eligible in 2022. He was 15 when he broke into the BCHL and drew a good chunk of playing time that season with the Chiefs, which was key in his development.
“They gave me really good opportunities and played me on the power play, just to allow me to learn the junior game and overall it was just such a good year and it gave me confidence going into my second junior year,” Thornton said.
“Originally we decided it was going to be best for me to go to the BCHL and maybe get some more touches and more opportunity than I might get in the WHL in my first year of junior. My family and my advisor, we felt comfortable that Prince George would be the right opportunity for me and I just jumped on it and I’m happy to be here.”
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.
Thornton works at a high level in practices and in the gym and Lamb says he’s setting a great example.
“He brings a lot of energy into the group, he’s a fun guy to have around and (this season) he’s played more games than anybody,” said Lamb. “He’s an intense kid and he’s got a really good shot and you saw that on his goal. He’s got a good one-timer slapshot and he’ll be a real asset on our power play.”
