Behind The Net
Fox Chapel's Thomas Comes Home
By Bob Grove

Back in the mid-1980s, Bill Thomas was just another kid flopping around the North Park outdoor rink on double runners. He had no hockey genes and was too young to have a hockey plan in his head, hardly surprising since he hadn't yet been exposed to the connection between the ice and the game.

"My dad used to take me and my brother when we were two or three years old to the free skates, and we just enjoyed it," remembers the 25-year-old Pittsburgh native, who grew up in Fox Chapel. "One time, after a free skate, some hockey players came out, and me and my brother wanted to try that ourselves."

Thomas not only tried it but excelled at it, reaching the National Hockey League with the Phoenix Coyotes as a 22-year-old in March, 2006. Today his goal is to become the second Pittsburgh native to play for the Penguins - and the first local player to do so after going undrafted. Thomas, a 6-1, 185-pound right wing, signed a one-year contract with the Penguins last month as an unrestricted free agent.

Thomas comes to the Penguins with 40 games on his NHL resume, including seven last season, when he spent most of his time with the Coyotes' American Hockey League affiliate in San Antonio. Thomas has been a solid point producer in the AHL, scoring 37 goals and 85 points in 122 career games, and in the NHL has shown flashes of the kind of scoring consistency that it takes to stay in the league.

It's all a long way from the North Hills Amateur Hockey Association, where Thomas began to play competitively at the age of five during the 1988-89 season. "We got really interested in playing when the Penguins started doing well, when Mario was really coming into his own," said Thomas. "Hockey was really intriguing to a lot of kids then because it was kind of new.

"When I was playing in elementary school, I was the only one who played. By the time I got to high school, four or five of my best friends were playing, too. It really grew on a lot of players, and we'd all sit around and watch the Penguins."

Thomas eventually played for the Amateur Penguins as a high school sophomore, splitting time with the Fox Chapel High School team, before graduating to the Junior A Cleveland Barons of the North American Hockey League and the Tri-City Storm of the United States Hockey League. Then it was on to the University of Nebraska-Omaha, where he promptly led the nation's freshmen in scoring with 45 points and was named CCHA Rookie of the Year.

As a sophomore, Thomas led the CCHA in goals (27) and was named All-Conference First Team before foregoing his final two NCAA seasons to sign with Phoenix.