Donald Thompson is a Canadian retired ice hockey forward who was an All-American for Michigan State.

Career Thompson briefly played for the Niagara Falls Flyers in 1968–69 but soon left the team so he could register as a freshman at Michigan State University. In doing so, he would be able to count the year as his freshman season and begin to play as a sophomore on the varsity squad in 1970. Shortly after Thompson joined Michigan State, the NCAA changed its long-standing police to limit student athletes to three seasons of varsity play. Beginning with the 1969–70 season, all incoming players had four years of eligibility. As a consequence, when Thompson was named as the WCHA Sophomore of the Year for 1970, he was the final player to receive that award.

Despite the lost season, Thompson became a standout player for the Spartans in the early-1970s. He led the team in scoring in each of his three seasons with the club and was named an All-American in 1971. As a senior, he finished sixth in the nation in scoring. When Thompson graduated he was the Sparta's all-time leading scorer, however, nearly all of his records were surpassed due to the deluge of scoring that occurred in the mid-1970s.

After college, Thompson played senior hockey briefly before becoming a beneficiary of the rapid expansion of professional hockey. Due to both the NHL's and WHA's demand for players, Thompson was able to sign a professional contract with the New Haven Nighthawks. He played parts of two seasons with the team, providing depth scoring and helping them reach the second round in 1974.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs     Regular Season   Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1966–67 Etobicoke Indians MJBHL —————————— 1968–69 Niagara Falls Flyers OHA 52350————— 1969–70 Michigan State WCHA 2414183224————— 1970–71 Michigan State WCHA 3119385735————— 1971–72 Michigan State WCHA 3532356766————— 1972–73 Clinton Comets EHL 52352————— 1972–73 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 33212148————— 1973–74 New Haven Nighthawks AHL 619172614104152 1974–75 Peoria Blades CnHL —0442————— NCAA totals 90 65 91 156 125 — — — — — AHL totals 94 11 29 40 22 10 4 1 5 2

Awards and honors Award Year All-WCHA First Team 1970–71 AHCA West All-American 1970–71 All-WCHA Second Team 1971–72

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