Thilthorpe, Luke

BORN NOVEMBER 4TH 1981 in Adelaide, he became a foundation player for the Adelaide Avalanche in 1999 at 18 years of age, the club that was co-founded by his father James and Steve Oddy. He had already won the Goodall Cup with his brother Ben two years earlier in 1997 and, like his brother, he was a homegrown player born and raised in Adelaide who had developed in the local Blackhawks, then attended the Banff Hockey Academy in Alberta Canada.

The Avs were an exciting team under the coaching skills of John Botterill and later NHL'er Steve McKenna. Regarded as one of the best skaters in the NIHSL, Thilthorpe played 9 seasons for the Avalanche scoring just under a goal a game (109 points in 120 games). He was there for the back-to-back Cups in 2000 and 2001 and he returned to the AIHL with the Adelaide Adrenaline and won a fourth AIHL championship and Goodall Cup in the 2009 season.

Thilthorpe was a 1.8m tall, 77 kg forward who first played for Australia in Mexico in 2000 with the National Junior Team, and first toured with the Mighty Roos in Cape Town in 2002. The first of five Worlds, he played forward in 2002 and 2004; defense in 2005 and 2006; then returned after a long break to the 2011 Worlds in Melbourne where he finished with Division 2 gold. Luke Thilthorpe graduated in marketing and communications from the University of South Australia in 2005 and became a senior account manager with the Australian Radio Network. He recently returned to play for the Blackhawks and is still a regular contributor at local ice hockey events.