Kenneth (Trey) Thompkins '23 Recruiting Profile

Hockey became my obsession when I was 4 years old after my parents took me to my first professional game and I watched the South Carolina Stingrays take the ice.  Luckily my parents had close friends who were involved in our local hockey association and suggested they sign me up to learn how to play.  Being a goalie was my passion from the minute I could skate well enough to get in front of the net!  Having played hockey for many years already, I still find myself wanting more: to play bigger, be quicker, stronger and better than I was the year before.  This is what is driving me to play hockey in college at the highest level possible.

As great of a game that hockey is, I have found that it can be as heart-breaking as it is rewarding.  I learned a heart-breaking lesson the year I was cut from a team that I had played for the year before and was prepared to lead the next season.  That season was very humbling and I learned the true meaning of the clichés, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and that “everything happens for a reason”.   The opportunities and growth that came from that single season have helped shape me into the player I am now.  I do not take my time on the ice for granted and I am thankful for the blessing that hockey has been in my life.  I am the same person on the ice as I am off: a friend to everyone, a strong leader, respectful to those around me and always carrying myself with the highest integrity, never forgetting my values and morals.  I am looking to play for a program that values my attributes and will challenge me academically while offering me the best opportunity to play hockey and developing me into the person I will be long after my hockey days are over.