For two years, Henry Thrun was just like other members of his family who had played hockey. He was a forward.
That changed when he was 7 years old and playing club hockey with the Minuteman Flames. The team’s coaches, Tom Connors and Mike Moore, thought he saw the ice well, was a good puck mover and could skate well, so they shifted him to defense.
“They figured it was the best spot for me,” Thrun, now 17, remembered.
Clearly, they were right.
Thrun, in his second season in the U.S. National Team Development Program, continues to blossom. Last season, he totaled 39 points (7-32-39) in 58 games with its Under-17 squad. He also was promoted to its Under-18 team, with which he played two matches without registering a point. However, this season with the Under-18 club, he has 23 points (7-16-23) in 35 contests, as of Jan. 17.
The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Southboro, Mass., also has seized the attention of National Hockey League scouts. In November, he was given a C rating by NHL Central Scouting on its Players to Watch list for the 2019 NHL draft, indicating that he’s a candidate to be selected in the fourth, fifth or sixth round. He’s No. 32 among North American skaters on NHL Central Scouting’s midseason rankings, released last month.
That’s quite an accomplishment for someone who didn’t start skating until he was 5 years old.
Thrun, a left-handed shot, took no interest in the sport until he noticed one of his good friends, Louie, playing it. He then approached his dad, David, and asked if he could play, too. His father, a former forward who suited up for the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Buffalo Junior Sabres and the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Buffalo Regals, was all for it. So were his mom, Deborah, and older brother, Will, both of whom were forwards and played at Middlesex High School in Concord, Mass.
With Thrun eager to take part in what’s become a family tradition, he was placed into the Triboro Titans learn-to-skate program, where he simultaneously learned how to play hockey.
In due time, his abilities allowed him to keep rising up the sport’s ranks. At age 14, he took what was his largest step to that point when he decided to play prep school hockey for St. Mark’s School.
One big reason he chose St. Mark’s was because he was eager to learn from and play for head coach Carl Corazzini (Framingham, Mass.), a former center who skated in 12 games with the Boston Bruins and seven contests with the Chicago Blackhawks in the mid-2000s.
“Coach Corazzini was a big mentor for me during my two years there,” Thrun asserted. “Besides being an incredible hockey coach, he’s a better person. He taught me a lot of stuff on the ice, such as how to work on the offensive side of my game, how to read plays better and how to defend guys. Off the ice, he showed me how to treat people and how to deal with issues.
“I was learning how to become a man.”
The education didn’t end there. Thrun also started studying the play of Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith, a three-time Stanley Cup champion, two-time Norris Trophy winner and Conn Smythe Trophy recipient.
“I try to resemble my game after his,” Thrun said. “He has all the parts that I want to put into my game. He’s an unreal player and is still doing well.”
Thrun feels he’s similar to Keith in that both of them “aren’t super flashy, but consistently play a two-way style game, are reliable on defense and are able to chip in offensively.”
The biggest difference between them, according to Thrun, is Keith is “more of a gifted skater.”
“Keith’s lateral movement is incredible,” he elaborated.
On the flip side, Thrun said he’s a “little bit more of a threat offensively with the puck” than Keith, “whether that’s on a power play or one-on-one.”
Thrun considers his offensive capability as the aspect of his game that has improved the most since he began playing.
“During my playing career, I’ve learned how to use my offensive skills while also not being a risk factor,” he said. “I’m still able to be reliable defensively. That’s come with a lot of practice and gaining confidence in games.”
What’s helped Thrun become so stout defensively has been the development of his physical game. When he was younger, he didn’t utilize it much, noting that he was able to get away with just using his stick when making defensive plays.
“More recently, playing against all the big college teams, I’ve really learned with the help of our defensive coach, (U-18 associate coach) Dan Hinote, how to use my body, whether that be pinning guys up against the glass or angling guys off,” Thrun explained. “He’s taught me to really value my size, and he showed me how to use my size in the corners, because at the older levels and professional levels you’re not going to get away with just using your stick. Against bigger and stronger guys you’re going to have to use your body.”
Although he’s made major leaps with the physical side of the game, Thrun wants to continue improving it as the season winds down.
“It’s always been the one thing I’ve needed to work on the most,” he said, “and now that our college schedule is over and we’re going back to playing against kids our own age, I’m going to need to be a physical presence and continue to learn how to be more of a physical threat on the ice.”
Speaking of the college slate, Thrun had a memorable experience earlier this season when his team visited Boston to battle local schools. On Oct. 19, his team lost, 5-4, in overtime to Boston University. The next night, his club defeated Harvard, 6-3, a match that was extra special since he committed to and will play for Harvard this fall.
“That trip was a ton of fun for me,” Thrun said. “I was really looking forward to it because it was one of my first trips coming home in a while, and I’d always known that the U.S. NTDP makes the trip out to Boston. Being able to play BU and Harvard on back-to-back nights, to take BU to overtime and then beat Harvard the next night, was pretty special. I had a lot of family and friends there in Harvard’s Bright-Landry Center. And playing against a bunch of future teammates, coach Ted Donato (Dedham, Mass.) and the rest the coaching staff was really fun.”
Fittingly, the Thrun family’s first blueliner also will be the first member of it to attend Harvard. In fact, he had no previous connections to the school before his tour.
“Growing up outside of the city, I always wanted to go to school in Boston,” Thrun stated. “With Harvard, the coaching staff and the combination of academics and hockey are second to none. I love everything about it. It’s a great school and at the same time offers me all the opportunity and chances I want to have in hockey, both playing there and hopefully having success and then continuing on to play professionally. It’s the perfect fit for me.”
Thrun will be a perfect fit for the Crimson, too, since talented two-way, puck-moving defensemen who see the ice well are a precious commodity.
