Medical school can wait.
Hockey Canada defender Claire Thompson paused her studies at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine last summer to join the Professional Women’s Hockey League for its second season, aimed at the 2026 Olympics.
She hoped to pursue both passions last season, but it became clear she couldn’t do both at the same time.
Not wanting to sit out two full hockey seasons, Thompson entered last June’s draft, and the Frost — still named PWHL Minnesota at the time — took the offensively gifted defender third overall.
“Unfortunately, the time on a pro athlete’s body is ticking,” said Thompson, now 26. “I’ll play hockey when I’m in my physical prime and I’ll go to school when I’m in my mental prime.”
She grew up in Toronto and played collegiately at Princeton in New Jersey. The Frost’s decision to draft Thompson delighted her Minnesotan friends, two from Princeton, as well as a medical school roommate who watched the draft unfold in their New York City apartment after Thompson worked late on her clinical rotation.
New York and Ottawa drafted first and second and neither selected Thompson. The Frost then called her name.
“I would have loved to play in Toronto, that would have been great,” she said. “But honestly, I was pretty excited to go anywhere. There is so much to learn anywhere. Minnesota had such a successful season, and I knew it would be so much fun joining a successful team and playing with a bunch of new people.”