Another former Flin Flon Bomber has moved on to professional hockey. Defender Cory Thomas, who played two seasons for the maroon and white, has joined up with an ECHL club.
Thomas has signed with the ECHL's Idaho Steelheads, an affiliate club of both the NHL's Dallas Stars and the Texas Stars of the AHL. The team announced his signing on March 29. Since then, Thomas has played in three games with the club.
The St. Brieux, Sask. native played 86 regular season games with the Bombers and was a key part of the team's runs to the SJHL finals in both 2016 and 2017. Known as a defense-first, no-nonsense defenceman, the 6-foot-5 Thomas had 15 points, including four goals, in his regular season SJHL career. Thomas also was selected to play at the World Junior A Challenge for Team Canada West in 2016, playing on the same club as future NHLers Cale Makar and Ian Mitchell.
Thomas earned a scholarship to the Univ. of Vermont, playing NCAA Division I hockey with the Catamounts for four seasons from 2017-2021. For his fifth and final season of college hockey this year, Thomas transferred to the Canisius College Golden Griffins, where he played in all but one game of the team's 35-game season and finished with two goals and three points. During his time in Vermont, Thomas was also named to Hockey East's All-Academic Team.
Thomas is now one of three former Bombers in the ECHL, along with forward Jesse Mychan (now a member of the Toledo Walleye) and ex-captain Tanner Lishchynsky, who plays for Tulsa Oilers. The Bombers also have two alumni in the AHL (former captain Tyson Empey, who plays with the Tucson Roadrunners, the top affiliate of the Arizona Coyotes, and current Milwaukee Admirals goalie Connor Ingram) and one in the NHL, Colorado Avalanche defenceman Josh Manson.
Former Bombers are also playing in professional leagues in Canada, the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., Poland, Austria, Sweden and Switzerland. Six former Bombers play NCAA Division I hockey, while others play Division III, Canadian USports and provincial and regional college hockey.
