Patrick Thoresen: a star from an unfamiliar hockey country
In the latest of KHL.ru’s series about the legends of league we’re looking at Norway’s Patrick Thoresen, who won the Gagarin Cup with two different clubs.
Ufa instead of Moscow
Spartak was the first KHL team to pay attention to Patrick Thoresen. In February 2009, the club’s GM Andrei Yakovenko flew to Oslo to scout the qualification tournament for the Vancouver Olympics. Yakovenko’s initial talks with the Norwegian were promising and he returned to Moscow with plans to have Thoresen centering a line featuring Slovakia’s Branko Radivojevic and Stefan Ruzicka. However, as is often the case, wealthier rivals got wind of that plan. As a result, Thoresen ended up at Salavat Yulaev. Even so, Spartak found a worthy replacement in Martin Cibak and that Slovak troika proved to be one of the most productive for the club in recent decades.
Norway is a Nordic country. However, it’s never been a big hockey force. It’s no long since there were reports that the national hockey program might be suspended due to financial losses until at least the end of 2023. The number of world-renowned Norwegian players can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The national championship is effectively semi-pro: many players have a day job and compete in the evenings. The most promising prospects go elsewhere, usually to Sweden or to North America. Patrick followed the second path and crossed the Atlantic at age 17.
Thoresen spent two seasons in a Canadian junior league. However, like most Europeans, he couldn’t crack the NHL. Next came a spell in Sweden and a first experience on the national team. In 2004 Thoresen’s debut World Championship campaign could not help Norway win promotion to the top division, but one year later they did it. In 2006, Patrick scored twice at the highest level as Norway avoided instant relegation. Now, having worked his way up through every level of European hockey, he went back across the ocean. Once again, though, he could not quite establish himself in the NHL and in 2008 he returned to Europe once and for all.
In Switzerland, Thoresen shone for Lugano – 63 (22+41) points in 48 games was good for third place in the championship scoring race behind Finn Kimmo Rintanen (Kloten Flyers) and Slovakia’s Juraj Kolnik (Servette). In three Olympic qualification games, Thoresen’s 6 (4+2) points in three games helped send Team Norway to Vancouver for the 2010 Games. Then came a World Championship in Sweden, and two goals in six games for Thoresen. The 2008-2009 season was Thoresen’s best to date. It was no coincidence that his performance attracted attention in the KHL. It wasn’t just Spartak and Salavat Yulaev; SKA and Dynamo Moscow also showed interest.
“In the past few years I was upset when some analysts and selectors would say ‘OK, Patrick Thoresen’s a good player in a minor league, but he’ll never be a star in the big league.’ I really wanted to prove the skeptics wrong and prove to myself that I could match the biggest European superstars. And what league in Europe is stronger than the KHL?”
Patrick Thoresen in an interview with Sport Express
Patrick Thoresen
417 games, 382 (149+233) points
Gagarin Cup winner (2011, 2015)
Best plus/minus in the KHL 2010
Norwegian player of year (2012, 2015)
KHL All-Star (2010, 2011)
Most productive Norwegian in KHL history
May 21, 2009 signed a contract with Salavat Yulaev
Jan. 30, 2010 played his first KHL All-Star Game
May 20, 2010 awarded the prize for the best plus/minus in the regular season
Apr. 16 2011 won the Gagarin Cup with Ufa
Alongside Radulov and Grigorenko
In 2009 Salavat Yulaev was the defending champion but crashed out in the first round of the playoffs. The management, eager to repeat the success of 2007-2008, significantly strengthened the team. In came the likes of Dmitry Kalinin (Phoenix), Viktor Kozlov (Washington), Sergei Zinovyev (Dynamo Moscow) and Thoresen. At first, Thoresen, Zinovyev and Kozlov formed a newbie line. But it wasn’t long before that changed, ushering in one of the most formidable trios in the KHL’s history: Thoresen – Igor Grigorenko – Alexander Radulov.
Thoresen hit the ground running. He especially enjoyed playing against Vityaz. In his KHL debut season he scored two hat-tricks, both against the Moscow Region club. On Oct. 21 Thoresen scored three in a 6-1 home victory, then on Jan. 5 he repeated the trick on the road in a 5-1 success.
Salavat Yulaev’s season culminated in a run to the semi-finals, where Ufa faced Ak Bars. Salavat lost 3-4 on home ice in the opening game and Thoresen elbowed visiting captain Alexei Morozov in the head. The future KHL president had to be helped from the ice.
“You saw for yourselves. I won the puck and took it out of the zone. A player came up and hit me. Was it deliberate? I don’t know. You’d have to ask him. For me, the fact remains that it was a foul.”
Alexei Morozov
Thoresen was suspended for game two and Salavat Yulaev lost again without one of its leading players. Overcoming a 2-0 deficit against a powerful Ak Bars team was always going to be a tall order. In the end, there was no fairytale fightback. Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s team advanced to the final and won its second Gagarin Cup in a row.
In his second KHL season, Thoresen was even more productive: 66 points against 57, second in regular season scoring behind his team-mate Radulov. In the playoffs he improved to 18 points. Once again, the Norwegian potted two hat-tricks: first against Avtomobilist on Oct. 5 then a couple of weeks later on Lokomotiv. His line was also more effective than ever, compiling 186 points in the regular season and 51 in the playoffs (the previous season brought 156 and 42 respectively). It all added up to Salavat Yulaev winning the Gagarin Cup.
St. Petersburg in place of the NHL
Thoresen’s contract in Ufa ran for two seasons. But even in 2010 there was talk that he might return to the NHL, and that grew louder throughout 2011. In the end, though, the Norwegian remained in Russia and signed up with SKA St. Petersburg.
Each year, SKA was determined to win the Gagarin Cup, but each year the club came up short. At first, Thoresen’s arrival did not change much, even though he was at the peak of his powers. Patrick wasn’t just a productive player at Salavat Yulaev, he was also impressing in international play. In 2012 he had 18 (7+11) points in eight games at the World Championship, just one point behind the tournament top scorer Evgeny Malkin who had one point more but played 10 games. This was Thoresen’s best tournament for Norway, and a rare sighting of his country in a World Championship quarter final.
However, for a long time, Thoresen’s contribution could not bring SKA its long-awaited glory. In 2012 and 2013, Petersburg fell to Dynamo Moscow in the playoff semi-finals. Ilya Kovalchuk arrived, hoping to complete the puzzle. However, in 2014, the run ended one round earlier. It wasn’t until 2015 that SKA finally got its hands on the Gagarin Cup, with Thoresen a big part of Vyacheslav Bykov’s team.
After winning his second Gagarin Cup, Thoresen returned to Djurgarden in Sweden. In 2016 he moved to Zurich for one season before going back to his first club, Storhamar, where he made his senior debut as a 16-year-old. However, he only spent a short time back home. In October, he was in talks about a return to SKA and the following month he touched down in Russia once again. Patrick said he was here for a third Gagarin Cup, but this time it wasn’t to be.
At the end of the season, Thoresen went back to Norway and became Storhamar’s captain. Now aged 40, he remains active won his second Norwegian championship last season, 24 years after his first. Patrick also returned to international play to captain his country at this year’s World Championship. His experience proved crucial as the Norwegians successfully battled to stay in the elite division, and he is signed up to play the coming campaign with Djurgardens in Swedish second division.
June 3, 2011 moved to SKA
June 3, 2012 named to the World Championship media select team
Apr. 7, 2015 scored the gamewinner in the deciding game of the Conference final, completing the KHL’s only successful comeback from 0-3 in a playoff series
Apr. 19, 2015 won the Gagarin Cup with SKA
Factfile
Patrick Thoresen
Born Nov. 7, 1983, in Oslo (Norway)
Playing career: 1999-2001, 2017-2024 – Storhamar (Norway), 2001-2002 – Monkton Wildcats (QMJHL, Canada), 2002-2003 – Baie-Commeau Drakkar (QMJHL, Canada), 2003-2004 – Morrums (Sweden), 2003-2006, 2015-2016, 2024-present – Djurgardens (Sweden), 2005-2006 – Salzburg (Austria), 2006-2008 – Edmonton (NHL), 2006-2007 – «Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (AHL), 2007-2008 – Philadelphia (NHL), 2007-2008 – Springfield (AHL), 2008-2009 – Lugano (Switzerland), 2009-2011 – Salavat Yulaev (KHL), 2011-2015, 2017-2018 – SКА (KHL), 2016-2017 – Zurich (Switzerland).
Honors: Norwegian champion (2000, 2024), Gagarin Cup winner (2011, 2015), Russian champion (2011).
