(St. Brieux & District Rec Centre/Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Cory Thomas

St. Brieux hockey player retiring as ECHL Champ

Sep 12, 2025 | 1:30 PM

A local hockey player had the most memorable year of his career this past season, and on that note, he is now deciding to step away from the game.

St. Brieux native Cory Thomas became an ECHL champion this June.

“It feels good to finish my career as a champion. The big thing was ending my career with a good relationship with the game; I didn’t want it to come to an end because I was fizzling out. I wanted to feel positive about it, and what better way to go out than on the heels of a championship… it has been great being able to celebrate with my family and my friends, and enjoy the offseason,” Thomas told northeastNOW.

“I’ve mostly just cherished this offseason. I haven’t really celebrated too hard, but I think sometime soon I will have my day with the Kelly Cup, so I’m excited to celebrate with that. For myself, this summer has just been about cherishing and reflecting on my time as a player, and it’s something that I can look back on and say that I pursued it fully and made it to professional hockey.”

(St. Brieux & District Rec Centre/Facebook)

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Thomas spent parts of four seasons in the ECHL (2021-2025), split between the Idaho Steelheads, the Utah Grizzlies, and the Trois-Rivieres Lions, with whom he won his championship.

Prior to that, the 27-year-old defenceman played five years of NCAA Div I hockey (2017-2021), which followed three years in the SJHL with the Flin Flon Bombers (2014-2017) and three seasons with the Tisdale Trojans (2012-2015).

“Growing up, I thought out here, you didn’t get a whole lot of exposure to higher levels of hockey, and so playing junior A was kind of what I thought the pinnacle was, but then I started slowly climbing the ranks, got to junior, and then all of a sudden I’m going to college, and I just never really expected that as a young kid,” Thomas added.

“I never really thought about there being scouts in the crowd watching games, but I think later on, I started to realize there’s always somebody watching, and it’s kind of something where you just have to keep playing your game and focus on your game. It’s understanding that there is always somebody watching, even if you feel like you’re kind of on an island and you’re not getting that.”

While Thomas may not have believed his eventual career was possible, he did always know that he was capable.

“It’s crazy to look back knowing that I started playing when I was three years old in St. Brieux; that’s where I really learned to love the game. Playing with all your best friends, going to school the next day and talking about your games, growing up in a small town is where you find the passion. I’ve kind of just carried that with me throughout my entire career, and to be able to play until the age of 27 at a professional level, and win a championship with just an incredible team, it’s been really special.”

And although the road to the end was never guaranteed, Thomas wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The last few years, my body has kind of been telling me it’s time. I had two concussions late last season, and I told myself if I got another one, I’m calling it. I want to take care of my brain, so at that point, it was just why risk it? Other parts of my body, you deal with the injuries and those are fine, but when there are things that start to affect you in the off-season, it just felt like this was it,” he explained.

“It all worked out the way it was supposed to, at least it definitely feels that way when you end on a championship.”

(St. Brieux & District Rec Centre/Facebook)

As he looks to the future, Thomas said that whatever lies ahead, there’s a good chance that it will still have something to do with the game of hockey.

“I feel like I have other things in life that I want to accomplish and want to get started on, and I don’t want to wait too long to start pursuing those things. It just felt like the right time to retire, especially coming off a championship,” he concluded.

“When the time comes, there are lots of different aspects of the game that I would love to get into. With my education, I’d love to get into some front office work, but I’d also love to get into officiating. I just want to be able to give back to the game that’s given me so much, and so maybe not right now, but I think not too far down the road, I will be looking into doing some stuff that gives back to the game.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On X @BenTompkins_8