Hockey now, medical school later: Minnesota Frost defender Claire Thompson has a plan

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.”

Thompson practiced with her new teammates for four days before they all flew to Toronto for the PWHL’s four-day mini-camp. The Frost begin defense of their Walter Cup championship at home against the New York Sirens on Dec. 1.

“I had read all the pre-draft stuff online, and nobody had me going to Minnesota,” Thompson said. “My roommate was screaming. It was so much fun.”

Frost coach Ken Klee made the draft-day picks after General Manager Natalie Darwitz departed in the days after the team beat Boston in the fifth and deciding game for the first Walter Cup. The first of seven picks he made that day was Thompson, whom the Frost later signed to a two-year contract.

“She’s a special player,” Klee said. “We took her in the first round for a reason. We knew she was a special player, but it’s certainly great to see her out there with our group, in a Frost jersey.”

Thompson has played hockey for so long, she’s not ready to go without it just yet.

“I love playing hockey, it’s just great to be back,” she said. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor for a very long time, pretty much as far back as I can remember. I’ve always just been really fascinated by the human body, and I really liked math and science. Then as I grew and explored different opportunities, I thought there was no better job in the world than being able to help people stay healthy. That’s what I want to do.”

Thompson calls pro hockey “the other very best job in the world.” She always intended to return to it, even after she was accepted and enrolled in medical school.

“Even when I started med school, I was going to come back and push for the 2026 Olympics,” she said. “I knew these four years were going to look a bit different than the previous four years. It was just deciding when was the best time to come back.”

She plans to specialize in sports-medicine orthopedics when her hockey career is over and is using this return to hockey to learn from athletic trainers and medical staff.

“Definitely, a little bit,” Thompson said. “They definitely know so much more than I do. I’m so impressed by the medical staff here.”

She said she hasn’t diagnosed teammates so far.

“No, no, no, I stay away from that,” Thompson said. “I’m not qualified.”