Canadian Olympic gold medalist Joe Thornton now has an arena named after him in his native city of St. Thomas, Ontario. On Saturday, the Timken Centre was renamed the Joe Thornton Community Centre.
Thornton, who won a gold medal for Canada in men’s hockey at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, has had an outstanding NHL career with the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins. In 1493 games, Thornton has 397 goals and 1030 assists for 1427 points.
Located at 75 Caso Crossing in St. Thomas, Ontario, the Community Centre originally opened in 2005. It has two National Hockey League sized rinks with one of the rinks having a capacity of 2200. It also includes a basketball facility, bar, meeting room and fitness track.
The Centre is also home of the St. Thomas Stars of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. In fact, Thornton played two seasons for the Stars from 1993 to 1995. From 1994-1995, Thornton had 40 goals and 64 assists for 104 points with the Stars in only 50 games. Other notable Stars alumni include former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier of Mont-Laurier, Quebec, former Pittsburgh Penguins centre John Cullen of Puslinch, Ontario, Thornton’s San Jose Sharks teammate Logan Couture of Guelph, Ontario, and current Canucks all-star Bo Horvat of London, Ontario.
