Joe Thornton

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CanadaCanada  Joe Thornton Ice hockey player
Joe Thornton
Date of birth 2nd July 1979
place of birth London , Ontario , Canada
Nickname Big Joe, Jumbo Joe
size 193 cm
Weight 107 kg
position center
number # 19
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Entry Draft 1997 , 1st lap, 1st position
Boston Bruins
Career stations
1993-1994 Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs
1994-1995 St. Thomas Stars
1995-1997 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds
1997-2005 Boston Bruins
2004-2005 HC Davos
since 2005 San Jose Sharks
2012 HC Davos

Joseph "Joe" Eric Thornton (born July 2, 1979 in London , Ontario ) is a Canadian ice hockey player who has played for the San Jose Sharks in the National Hockey League since 2005 . The center began his professional career with the Boston Bruins , who had selected him in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft in first position . After about eight years in Boston, he was released to the Sharks during the 2005/06 season, and at the end of this season he won the Art Ross Trophy as the best scorer in the league and with theHart Memorial Trophy was named the NHL's Most Valuable Player . Thornton led both the Bruins and the Sharks as captain and has already scored well over 1000 points . With the Canadian national team , he won gold medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics and at the World Cups of Hockey in 2004 and 2016 .

Career

Thornton initially played in junior teams near his birthplace until 1995. For the 1995/96 season he joined the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds from the Ontario Hockey League . With 76 points in 66 games, he was named Rookie of the Year of the OHL and the CHL at the end of his first season . His second and final season for the greyhounds was similarly successful for him. That year he accumulated 122 points in just 59 games. In addition to being nominated for the league's All-Star Team, Thornton was also considered one of the most promising candidates for an early draw in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft . Ultimately, the Canadian was drawn as the overall first in the draft by the Boston Bruins , ahead of his future teammate Patrick Marleau . Thornton thus fulfilled the expectations as the highest traded draft pick of the three Canadian junior leagues .

After a disastrous 1996/97 season for the Bruins, they committed their talent right at the beginning of the new season . Thornton, then 18 years old, could not fulfill the hopes placed in him with a meager seven points from 55 games, but Boston still reached the first round of the playoffs. In the following three seasons, the center was able to increase its point count up to 71 points, but the Bruins missed qualifying for the playoffs in two seasons. In the 2001/02 season Thornton's point yield stagnated for the first time since his debut in the National Hockey League , but he improved the same but in the 2002/03 season by a full 30 to 101 points. It was also his best season in the traditional team's jersey and was rewarded with his appointment to the NHL Second All-Star Team . The Canadian also spent the following season in Boston, but his point production declined significantly and the team was eliminated, as in the past two years, with Thornton as team captain in the first round, who was once again disappointing in the playoffs .

Thornton in the jersey of the San Jose Sharks

The 2004/05 season spent Thornton due to the NHL lockout the HC Davos in the Swiss National League A , where he on Rick Nash -  2002 also drafted at position 1 - and the Finn Niklas Hagman met. The three NHL stars were significantly involved in the 27th Swiss championship title of HC Davos and also led the team to win the prestigious Spengler Cup . Thornton was named National League A Most Valuable Player at the end of the season .

Before the 2005/06 season , Thornton extended his contract in Boston by three years with a total salary of 19.8 million US dollars , although he initially did not want to stay there and other teams had already made contact with the management of the Bruins. Despite the extension of the contract and the fact that Thornton was by far the best scorer of his team at that time, a so-called blockbuster trade occurred on November 30, 2005. Thornton was traded by the Boston Bruins for defenseman Brad Stuart , center Wayne Primeau and the German Marco Sturm of the San Jose Sharks . With the engagement of Thorntons the Sharks improved abruptly, which was also due to Thorntons 14 points in his first six games for the new team. He also found a partner in Jonathan Cheechoo with whom he immediately hit it off blindly on the ice. Cheechoo scored 56 goals this season and received the coveted Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy for top scorer in the league. Thornton crowned his 125-point season by winning the Art Ross Trophy for best scorer in the league and the Hart Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player, although he moved from Boston (33 points) to San Jose (92nd place) after just 23 games Points) was transferred. He is the first and so far the only player to become the top scorer but who changed teams during the season. He was also appointed to the NHL First All-Star Team . For the first time in the Canadian's career, the playoffs were as successful as the regular season. In just eleven games with the Sharks, he scored half as many points as with the Bruins in 35 games.

Thornton during the 2006/07 season

In the 2006/07 season Thornton continued despite small injuries at the beginning of the season seamlessly on the performances of the previous year, which led to the fact that he collected the most points of all NHL players behind Sidney Crosby . He also set new franchise records for the Sharks in the points and assists categories. With his 90th season assistant on April 5, 2007, he was the third player in NHL history - after Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux  - to prepare 90 or more goals in two consecutive seasons. During the summer break, the management extended his contract, which expired in 2008, by three years to 2011. Thornton repaid this trust in the 2007/08 season and was next to goalkeeper Yevgeny Nabokow the best and most consistent player in the season. Although he could only score 96 points, including 67 assists, he was by far the most successful attacker of the Northern Californians.

On April 8, 2011, he scored in his 994th NHL game in the regular season against the Phoenix Coyotes and reached the mark of 1000 points as the 78th player in the history of the NHL .

Due to the lockout in the NHL, he returned to HC Davos in September 2012.

Thornton is an athlete ambassador for the development aid organization Right to Play .

International

On the international stage Thornton ran in a total of five tournaments for the Canadian national team , including one in the junior division.

Thornton first appeared internationally at the Junior World Cup in Switzerland in 1997 , when he won the gold medal with the team after a 2-0 final victory over the US team. The then 17-year-old scored four points in seven games.

At its first senior tournament, the 2001 World Cup in Germany , the Canadian team disappointed with a fifth place and the center also remained rather pale with two points from six games. Thornton showed a significant increase three years later at the World Cup of Hockey 2004 when he won the gold medal and he contributed six points in six games to winning the title. At the 2005 World Cup in Austria , the Canadian presented himself better again. Due to his 16 points scorer in nine matches, he was voted the most valuable player of the tournament. Together with the wingers Rick Nash and Simon Gagné , he led the Canadians to the final, but could not prevent the 3-0 defeat against the Czech Republic and had to be satisfied with the silver medal. Through his performances in the national jersey at the previous World Cup and the World Cup of Hockey, he was also nominated for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , where he was considered one of the team's key players. However, he scored only one goal in six games and, like many of his teammates, presented himself under normal form, causing the team to fail early in the quarterfinals. Nevertheless, in the summer of 2009, the striker was one of 46 players invited to the preparatory training camp for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver . His second Olympic participation was confirmed on December 30th. Likewise, his two storm colleagues Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley for Canada took part in the tournament, with whom he formed an attack line. Thornton only collected two scorer points in seven tournament games, but won the gold medal at the end of the Winter Olympics.

He also represented his home country at the World Cup of Hockey 2016 and won the gold medal there with the team.

Achievements and Awards

International

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2019/20 season

Thornton celebrating the goal
Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1993/94 Elgin-Middlesex Chiefs Ontario minor 67 83 85 168 45
1993/94 St. Thomas Stars OHA-B 6th 2 6th 8th 2
1994/95 St. Thomas Stars OHA-B 50 40 64 104 53
1995/96 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 66 30th 46 76 51 4th 1 1 2 11
1996/97 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OHL 59 41 81 122 123 11 11 8th 19th 24
1997/98 Boston Bruins NHL 55 3 4th 7th 19th 6th 0 0 0 9
1998/99 Boston Bruins NHL 81 16 25th 41 69 11 3 6th 9 4th
1999/00 Boston Bruins NHL 81 23 37 60 82 - - - - -
2000/01 Boston Bruins NHL 72 37 34 71 107 - - - - -
2001/02 Boston Bruins NHL 66 22nd 46 68 127 6th 2 4th 6th 10
2002/03 Boston Bruins NHL 77 36 65 101 109 5 1 2 3 4th
2003/04 Boston Bruins NHL 77 23 50 73 98 7th 0 0 0 14th
2004/05 HC Davos NLA 40 10 44 54 80 14th 4th 21st 25th 29
2005/06 Boston Bruins NHL 23 9 24 33 6th - - - - -
2005/06 San Jose Sharks NHL 58 20th 72 92 55 11 2 7th 9 12
2006/07 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 22nd 92 114 44 11 1 10 11 10
2007/08 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 29 67 96 59 13 2 8th 10 2
2008/09 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 25th 61 86 56 6th 1 4th 5 5
2009/10 San Jose Sharks NHL 79 20th 69 89 54 15th 3 9 12 18th
2010/11 San Jose Sharks NHL 80 21st 49 70 47 18th 3 14th 17th 16
2011/12 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 18th 59 77 31 5 2 3 5 2
2012/13 HC Davos NLA 33 11 25th 36 43 - - - - -
2012/13 San Jose Sharks NHL 48 7th 33 40 26th 11 2 8th 10 2
2013/14 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 11 65 76 32 7th 2 1 3 8th
2014/15 San Jose Sharks NHL 78 16 49 65 30th - - - - -
2015/16 San Jose Sharks NHL 82 19th 63 82 54 24 3 18th 21st 10
2016/17 San Jose Sharks NHL 79 7th 43 50 51 4th 0 2 2 0
2017/18 San Jose Sharks NHL 47 13 23 36 38 - - - - -
2018/19 San Jose Sharks NHL 73 16 35 51 20th 19th 4th 6th 10 6th
2019/20 San Jose Sharks NHL 70 7th 24 31 34 - - - - -
OHA-B total 56 42 70 112 55
OHL total 125 71 127 198 174 15th 12 9 21st 35
NLA total 73 21st 69 90 123 14th 4th 21st 25th 29
NHL overall 1636 420 1089 1509 1248 179 31 102 133 132

International

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1995 Canada Ontario U17-WHC 1st place, gold
1997 Canada U20 World Cup 1st place, gold 7th 2 2 4th 0
2001 Canada WM 5th place 6th 1 1 2 6th
2004 Canada World cup 1st place, winner 6th 1 5 6th 0
2005 Canada WM 2nd place, silver 9 6th 10 16 4th
2006 Canada Olympia 7th place 6th 1 2 3 0
2010 Canada Olympia 1st place, Olympic champion 7th 1 1 2 0
2016 Canada World cup 1st place, gold 6th 1 1 2 2
Juniors overall 7th 2 2 4th 0
Men overall 40 11 20th 31 12

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

family

Thornton's cousin Scott Thornton was also a professional ice hockey player. Both played together for the San Jose Sharks in the 2005/06 season . Scott Thornton ended his career in the summer of 2008 after 1,020 appearances in the National Hockey League .

Cody Thornton , Joe Thornton's nephew , played for EV Landshut between 2010 and 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Joe Thornton  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files
Squad of the San Jose Sharks for the 2019-20 season

Goalkeepers: Aaron Dell  | Martin Jones  
defender: Brent Burns  ( A ) | Mario Ferraro  | Tim Heed  | Erik Karlsson  ( A ) | Dalton Prout  | Radim Šimek  | Marc-Édouard Vlasic  
attacker: Logan Couture  ( C ) | Dylan Gambrell  | Tomáš Hertl  ( A ) | Evander Kane  | Melker Karlsson  | Joel Kellman  | Kevin Labanc  | Timo Meier  | Stefan Noesen  | Marcus Soerensen  | Joe Thornton  ( A ) 
Head Coach:  Bob Boughner    Assistant  Coach : Dave Barr  | Steve Spott    General Manager:  Doug Wilson

personal data
SURNAME Thornton, Joe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Thornton, Joseph Eric (full name); Big joe; Jumbo Joe (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd July 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH London , Ontario, Canada