Thompson inks deal with Stingrays

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - The South Carolina Stingrays, ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League's Washington Capitals and American Hockey League's Hershey Bears, announced that the club has signed defenseman Blake Thompson to a contract for the 2024-25 season.

Thompson, 31, is entering his seventh full season of professional hockey and fifth in the ECHL. The veteran blue-liner has 240 career games of ECHL experience, but he has spent the past two seasons in the Elite Ice Hockey League, playing for the Cardiff Devils in 2022-23 and the Coventry Blaze in 2023-24 and appearing in 54 games in each season. He has 48 points (10g-38a) and 123 penalty minutes in 108 career EIHL games.

Thompson has spent the majority of his professional career with the Adirondack Thunder. In four seasons with the Thunder, he has skated in 227 regular-season games and tallied 65 points (14g-51a). He helped Adirondack reach the playoffs twice and served as an alternate captain for the team in the 2021-22 season.

Before turning pro, Thompson played four seasons for St. Norbert College, tallying 73 points (19g-54a) in 112 games.