Claire Thompson retires from hockey to pursue medical career

TORONTO — Canadian Olympic gold medallist and PWHL champion Claire Thompson announced her retirement from hockey Thursday to return to medical school.

The 28-year-old defender from Toronto made the announcement on Instagram and in an interview with The Athletic.

"A career in medicine has always been an overarching goal of mine and I feel that now is the best time in my life to step away from hockey," Thompson told The Athletic. "I have achieved far more than I could have ever hoped for and I feel like I’m ready to step away and continue on the long road ahead of becoming an orthopedic surgeon."

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Thompson has returned to medical school at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine.

She won Olympic gold with Canada at the 2022 Beijing Games and silver earlier this year in Milan after putting her medical career on hold for two years.

Thompson set an Olympic record for points by a defender with 13 in Beijing and finished with 17 points in 14 career Olympic games, an all-time record for a defender.

"It’s definitely not a goal I set out to accomplish, or anything I thought was possible," Thompson said. "It is the byproduct of being a part of two really, really amazing teams. A lot of those points came [in 2022] when our team set almost every scoring and points record there was, so I really just feel like I was in the right place at the right time."

She also won the Walter Cup with the PWHL’s Minnesota Frost in 2025 before spending last season with the expansion Vancouver Goldeneyes.

Thompson declared for the 2024 PWHL draft after a year away from the game and was selected third overall by the reigning champion Frost.

"That was such a fun run," she recalled to The Athletic. "I feel so lucky to have been drafted by Minnesota … I really feel like it was just a fortunate happenstance that they took a chance on me after the year off."

She joined the Goldeneyes for the 2025-26 campaign, becoming the first player in franchise history and an alternate captain.

"Getting to play in front of Canadians and living back in Canada was something that was also really special," said Thompson. "To be able to play my last season in Canada, in front of Canadian fans, was amazing."

In 58 career PWHL games, Thompson finished with eight goals and 35 points.

She scored four goals and added 13 assists for 17 points in 28 games with the Goldeneyes last season.

"It’s definitely bittersweet, knowing that my time with [hockey] is done because I know that I’m still physically able to play and compete at [a high] level," she said. "But I also feel very content and ready for this next chapter of my life."

Thompson played four seasons of college hockey at Princeton University, captaining the Tigers to an ECAC championship in 2022.

With files from CBC News, Sportsnet and TSN