Release from 30.08.2022

Foxes complete squad

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HCB Südtirol Alperia signed the 30-year-old Canadian Christian Thomas. The NHL-experienced forward replaces the injured Nick Lappin.

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HCB Südtirol Alperia completes its squad a little more than two weeks before the start of the season. In place of Nick Lappin, who suffered a serious injury a few weeks ago and therefore will not be able to play for the Foxes in the upcoming season, 30-year-old Canadian Christian Thomas was signed.

He was selected 40th overall in the second round by the New York Rangers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. He was signed to a two-way contract and backed up the Rangers' farm team in the AHL (19 goals, 16 assists in 73 games), the Connecticut Whale, where he also spent the 2012/13 season with the exception of one stint in the NHL for the Rangers. He was eventually transferred to the Montreal Candiens the following year, where he also saw NHL action with 25 more games over the next two and a half seasons and was an integral part of the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL). He remained in the American Hockey League until 2018 (Springfield Falcons, Hershey Bears, and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins), making only one NHL appearance for the Coyotes themselves. A call-up to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics followed, where he won a bronze medal with Canada (one goal and one assist) and the Spengler Cup that same year. After his sixth professional season and a total of 191 points in 348 AHL games and 27 NHL appearances in North America, Thomas decided to move to Europe: in Sweden he played eleven games in the jersey of Rögle BK before moving to the KHL to Traktor Chelyabinsk (59 games, 23 points). In 2020/21 he got a contract with KooKoo in the Finnish league. However, an engagement with the Kazakh capital club Barys Nur-Sultan (KHL) at the start of the 2021/22 season was short-lived, as he returned in October 2021 to SC Bern (17 points in 28 games), where he already played one game in 2020.

Christian Thomas: "Bolzano is a great challenge for me. There I meet old teammates and I know that the team has a long tradition. I like European ice hockey, I'm a quick player and the larger playing field could be an benefit for me. I love getting into shooting position, but especially I want to give everything in every shift: my goal is to play a good season and put myself at the service of the team."