This weekend, Joe Thornton received the praise and appreciation he truly deserves for his amazing career. The San Jose Sharks held an awesome jersey retirement ceremony to celebrate everything he accomplished in what will likely be a Hall of Fame career.
Thornton was joined by teammates, coaches, family, and friends, and one of the former teammates who participated in the ceremony was Douglas Murray. The Swedish defenseman and Thornton played eight seasons together in San Jose.
Although they weren’t exactly similar on the ice—Murray was a tough-playing defenseman and Thornton led the offense—they became close off the ice. During the ceremony, Murray shared a heartwarming story about Thornton and how he helped a homeless woman.
Amazing story about Joe Thornton
According to Murray, Thornton once called some of the younger players on the Sharks with a request to help him move. Murray was one of the players who showed up, but when he arrived, he was stunned by what he saw. He might have expected to help a Shark teammate or someone on the staff, but instead, it was someone he’d never seen before.
“I drive to the address, and they were moving into a two-bedroom apartment in San Jose,” Murray said. “And I’m like, ‘Who’s living here? Did we trade for a player or something?’
“No,” Thornton replied. “It’s a mom with two kids, and she’s homeless, and she needed a place to live. But you can’t tell anybody about this.”
“Now it’s been such a long time ago, so now I can break the trust to tell everyone about this … That’s who they (the Thorntons) are.”
This says everything about Joe Thornton and the things he did for the community. A true legend, both on and off the ice!
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