At Home and Abroad

Steve Thornton is Head of Hockey and Commercial for the Odyssey Trust in Belfast. Steve previously played for the Belfast Giants and returned in 2008 as Head Coach. Originally from Ottawa, Canada, it is now over twenty years since Steve first arrived in Northern Ireland. Thornton was born in Edmonton, Alberta, but moved to Blackburn Hamlet, Gloucester, Ontario when he was 7. Apart from playing junior hockey with the Gloucester Rangers, college hockey with Boston University and one season in the International Hockey League with the Peoria Rivermen, Thornton's career has been played in Europe. He has single season spells in Austria with Klagenfurt and in Germany's Deutsche Eishockey Liga with the Adler Mannheim before moving to the United Kingdom, spending five seasons with the Cardiff Devils. He also had spells with the London Knights and the Belfast Giants, where he won the playoff cup in 2003. He then moved to Italy, spending two seasons with Val Pusteria Wolves, and then had spells in Switzerland and Sweden before returning to Britain, joining the Basingstoke Bison.