Don Thompson (ice hockey)
Donald "Zippy" Thompson is a Canadian retired ice hockey forward who was an All-American for Michigan State. Career. Thompson played a handful of games for the Niagara Falls Flyers in 1968–69 but soon left the team so he could register as a freshman at Michigan State University. In doing so, he would be able to count the year as his freshman season and begin to play as a sophomore on the varsity squad in 1970. Unfortunately, Thompson's maneuver was mistimed as the NCAA changed its long-standing police to limit student athletes to 3  seasons of varsity play that year. Beginning with the 1969–70 season, all incoming players would now have 4 years of eligibility. As a consequence, when Thompson was named as the WCHA Sophomore of the Year for 1970 he was the final player to receive that award (effectively rookie of the year). Despite the lost season, Thompson did become a star for the Spartans in the early 1970s. He led the team in scoring in each of his three seasons with the club and was named an All-American in 1971. As a senior he finished 6th in the nation in  scoring. All of his scoring accomplishments, however, couldn't help MSU finish better than 4th in the conference. When Thompson graduated he was the Sparta's all-time leading scorer, however, nearly all of his records were surpassed due to the deluge of scoring that occurred in the mid-70s. After college, Thompson played senior hockey briefly before becoming a beneficiary of the rapid expansion of professional hockey. Due to both the NHL's and WHA's demand for players, Thompson was able to sign a professional contract with the New Haven Nighthawks. He played parts of two seasons with the  team, providing depth scoring and helping them reach the second round in 1974.