Paul Thompson (b. 1988)

Paul Thompson (born November 30, 1988) is an American ice hockey forward who is currently playing in the American Hockey League with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. In the 2010–11 he was the Hockey East player of the year, led the Hockey East in scoring, and led the nation in power play goals while playing with the University of New Hampshire.

Playing career
Born in Derry, New Hampshire, Thompson began playing hockey at age five. He became a fan of the UNH hockey team while his elder cousin, Mike Souza, played on the team. He later attended Pinkerton Academy where he played hockey his freshman and sophomore year. While at Pinkerton he also played Baseball and Football. The next two years he played for the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs of the Eastern Junior Hockey League. After scoring fifty one goals in fifty games in the 2006–07 season, Thompson was named the EJHL Offensive Player of the Year. In 2007 he was ranked seventy second among North American hockey players by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau. He was the highest ranked North American player to not be selected in the NHL Entry Draft that year.

He then attended the University of New Hampshire where he is a Health Management major. Thompson scored his first college hat trick on November 17, 2007 in a game against Providence College. In the 2009–10 season he scored thirty nine points, second on the team to Bobby Butler. Thompson is now the highest scoring New Hampshire native on the UNH ice hockey team in the past thirty years. He is a finalist for the 2011 Hobey Baker Award.

In March 2011 he signed a two year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. He then began playing for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.