Patrick Thoresen

Patrick Thoresen (born 7 November 1983) is a Norwegian professional ice hockey left winger who is currently playing for the Storhamar in the Fjordkraftligaen. He resides in Hamar, Norway, where he grew up, during the off season.[1] He has a younger brother, Steffen who's also an ice hockey player. His father Petter was one of Norway's most notable players who played at five Olympic Winter Games (1980–1994). Thoresen would follow in his father's footsteps and play in the Winter Olympics in Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014.

Patrick Thoresen
Born (1983-11-07) 7 November 1983
Oslo, Norway
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 198 lb (90 kg; 14 st 2 lb)
Position Centre
Shoots Left
GET team
Former teams		 Storhamar Dragons
Djurgårdens IF
Edmonton Oilers
Philadelphia Flyers
HC Lugano
Salavat Yulaev Ufa
SKA Saint Petersburg
ZSC Lions
National team  Norway
NHL Draft Undrafted
Playing career 2003–present

Playing career

Thoresen started his career with his hometown Storhamar Dragons before he shifted to Canada and played junior hockey for two teams in the QMJHL, the Moncton Wildcats and the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. In the 2002–03 season, while a member of the Drakkar, he had 108 points in 71 games played, good enough for second in team scoring. His 75 assists that season were best in the QMJHL. This was a vast improvement from his first year of junior in which he compiled 73 points in 60 games played.

His first year of pro hockey was spent mostly with the Division 2 team, Mörrums GoIS IK, where he put up 41 points in 38 games. He eventually made the Elitserien where he then spent two years playing regularly for Djurgården, and collecting 53 points, 27 of them goals, in 80 games.

On 31 May 2006, Thoresen signed a contract with the Oilers as a free agent. He was somewhat of a surprise in training camp and played well enough for Oilers coach Craig MacTavish to publicly state that he had earned a spot on the roster for the 2006–07 season.[2]

Thoresen became only the fifth player from Norway to play a game in the NHL, the others being Bjørn Skaare, Anders Myrvold, Espen Knutsen, and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. In fact, Thoresen was the first Norwegian NHL player not previously drafted.

Thoresen scored his first NHL goal on 12 October 2006 against Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks. In 68 games during his rookie campaign, he tallied four goals (including two game winners) and 12 assists with a plus/minus of -1, among the best of the Oilers regulars that season, but was placed on waivers before the end of the 2007-8 season.

On 22 February 2008, Thoresen was claimed off waivers by the Philadelphia Flyers. On 11 April 2008, Thoresen was hit in the groin by a Mike Green slapshot during a playoff game against the Capitals. Thoresen was taken off the ice and driven to a local hospital.[3] He returned to action later in the playoffs, the first Norwegian to take part in NHL postseason play.

On 14 July 2008, Thoresen signed a one-year contract with HC Lugano of the Swiss League. He finished the season with 63 points in 48 games, good for third overall in the NLA.

On 21 May 2009, Thoresen signed a two-year contract with Salavat Yulaev Ufa of the Kontinental Hockey League.[4] He finished the regular season with 57 points in 56 games, sixth overall in the entire KHL. He also led all players in the plus/minus category with +45 (the previous season best was Alexei Tereshchenko with +41). He scored seven game-winning goals (2nd overall), including four consecutive game-winning goals to end the regular season.

During the offseason of 2010 he opted out of his contract with Salavat Yulaev in search of a new NHL contract.[5] Unable to get one, he decided to stay with Salavat for another season.[6] Thoresen ended the 2010/11 KHL regular season as second overall in point scoring (65), second in goals scored (29) and third in assists (36). During the playoffs, he amassed a total of 18 points en route to winning the Gagarin Cup, the first Norwegian to do so. His three goals and fifteen assists tied hom with Alexander Radulov for the team lead in points and fourth overall in the KHL.[7]

Thoresen is a two-time nominee for the Norwegian team sports athlete of the year award (Idrettsgallaen - 2009 and 2010).

Prior to the 2011-12 season, he inked a deal with SKA St. Petersburg and in April 2014, he signed a one-year extension.[8] He remained with the team until the end of the 2014-15 season and then spent the 2015-16 campaign with Djurgårdens IF of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). In May 2016, he signed with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A (NLA).[9]

In 2017 he returned to Storhamar to aid the club in winning the 2017-18 Norwegian series, GET Ligaen. However, in October of the same year he returned to SKA St. Petersburg. He returned to Storhamar at the conclusion of the season with SKA suffering a conference finals defeat to CSKA Moscow.

International play

Thoresen has played for the Norwegian national team numerous times. His first international experience came at the IIHF World U18 Championship in 2000 and 2001. He played in the World Junior Championships (division 1) in 2001 and 2002. In 2002, he posted excellent numbers: four goals and four assists in five games.

He participated in the World Championships in 2006 and 2007, picking up a goal and four assists in the six games in 2007.

He was selected to represent Team Norway at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in which he had an impressive tournament and tallied five assists in four games. At the 2010 World Championships in Germany he notched six points in six games and led all players in scoring after the preliminary round.[10]

He was second in tournament scoring at the 2012 World Championships, with 18 points in eight games. This included a 3-goal, 6-point effort in a 12-4 win over Germany.[11] He was also named to the tournament's all-star team, becoming the first Norwegian ever to be named to the IIHF top division all star team.[12]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs
    Regular season   Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1999–2000 Storhamar Dragons NOR 26 1 8 9 2 — — — — —
2000–01 Storhamar Dragons NOR 41 18 27 45 24 3 0 0 0 2
2001–02 Moncton Wildcats QMJHL 60 30 43 73 50 — — — — —
2002–03 Baie-Comeau Drakkar QMJHL 71 33 75 108 57 12 2 8 10 8
2003–04 Mörrums GoIS IK SWE II 38 19 22 41 40 — — — — —
2003–04 Djurgårdens IF SEL 3 0 0 0 2 — — — — —
2004–05 Djurgårdens IF SEL 30 10 7 17 33 12 2 2 4 29
2005–06 Djurgårdens IF SEL 50 17 19 36 44 — — — — —
2005–06 EC Salzburg AUT — — — — — 9 4 7 11 12
2006–07 Edmonton Oilers NHL 68 4 12 16 42 — — — — —
2006–07 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 5 1 5 6 4 — — — — —
2007–08 Springfield Falcons AHL 29 13 13 26 13 — — — — —
2007–08 Edmonton Oilers NHL 17 2 1 3 6 — — — — —
2007–08 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 21 0 5 5 8 14 0 2 2 4
2008–09 HC Lugano NLA 48 22 41 63 83 7 1 7 8 0
2009–10 Salavat Yulaev Ufa KHL 56 24 33 57 71 15 5 9 14 37
2010–11 Salavat Yulaev Ufa KHL 54 29 37 66 30 21 3 15 18 16
2011–12 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 45 15 26 41 34 15 2 5 7 10
2012–13 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 52 21 30 51 49 15 3 10 13 10
2013–14 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 37 11 19 30 44 10 5 8 13 0
2014–15 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 48 17 20 37 21 22 9 8 17 14
2015–16 Djurgårdens IF SHL 49 15 33 48 34 8 3 6 9 31
2016–17 ZSC Lions NLA 59 18 27 45 36 4 1 3 4 4
2017–18 Storhamar Dragons NOR 23 7 18 25 18 — — — — —
2017–18 SKA Saint Petersburg KHL 15 4 7 11 6 12 1 5 6 14
2018–19 Storhamar Dragons NOR 45 26 39 65 18 13 3 13 16 4
2019–20 Storhamar Dragons NOR 44 21 43 64 48 — — — — —
SHL totals 132 42 59 101 113 20 5 8 13 60
NHL totals 106 6 18 24 66 14 0 2 2 4
KHL totals 307 121 172 293 262 110 28 60 88 101

International
Year Team Event   GP G A Pts PIM
2000 Norway WJC18 B 5 3 2 5 6
2001 Norway WJC18 6 4 2 6 2
2001 Norway WJC D1 4 1 4 5 4
2002 Norway WJC D1 5 4 4 8 0
2004 Norway WC D1 5 4 5 9 2
2005 Norway OGQ 6 3 5 8 4
2005 Norway WC D1 5 4 4 8 2
2006 Norway WC 5 2 0 2 6
2007 Norway WC 6 1 4 5 2
2009 Norway OGQ 3 4 2 6 2
2009 Norway WC 6 2 0 2 6
2010 Norway OG 4 0 5 5 0
2010 Norway WC 6 2 4 6 2
2012 Norway WC 8 7 11 18 4
2013 Norway WC 7 1 1 2 16
2014 Norway OG 4 1 1 2 2
2015 Norway WC 7 4 3 7 6
2017 Norway OGQ 3 0 4 4 0
2017 Norway WC 7 3 4 7 2
2018 Norway OG 5 1 1 2 0
2019 Norway WC 7 0 0 0 2
Junior totals 14 8 10 18 10
Senior totals 94 39 54 93 58

References
  1. NRK Nett-TV - hastighetsmåling
  2. CANOE - SLAM! Sports - Columnists - Tychkowski: Thoresen's in!
  3. Flyers LW Patrick Thoresen taken to hospital after being hit in groin by Green’s shot
  4. Rasmussen, John (21 May 2009). "Thoresen går til Russland". Dagbladet.no. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  5. Lorentz, Cato (2 June 2010). "- 98 prosent sikkert at Thoresen spiller i NHL". vg.no. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  6. Wedervang, Mats (22 July 2010). "Patrick Thoresen blir i Russland i én sesong til". tv2sporten.no. Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  7. "Stats : Leaders". en.khl.ru. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  8. "Ny gigantavtale for Thoresen". Nettavisen.no. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
  9. "Die ZSC Lions verpflichten Patrick Thoresen | ZSC Lions". www.zsclions.ch. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
  10. Burheim, Mads (14 May 2010). "Patrick Thoresen leder poengligaen i VM". dagbladet.no. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  11. Norway sweep Germany aside in world ice hockey championships
  12. "Malkin wins MVP honours". IIHF.com. 20 May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.