Tabea Pfendsack
Tabea Pfendsack is the lovely wife of veteran NHL star, Joe Thornton. Her husband was born Joseph Eric Thornton on July 2, 1979. The Canadian-American is currently a center man and alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks.
At 15, Joe Thornton was drafted into the OHL by the Sault St. Marie Greyhounds with the team’s first pick, second overall. In his first season, 1995-96, Thornton was the talk of the hockey world. He won the OHL rookie-of-the-year award for his 76 points in 66 games. He was also named the Canadian Major Junior rookie-of-the-year. He was tall and wiry at 6′ 4″ and 180 pounds, and was known more for his quick shot and playmaking skills than his physical play.
Boston made him the first pick in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft. After suiting for HC Davos in the Swiss Elite League in 2004-05, Thornton made his second appearance at the World Championship (first was in 2001), helping Canada capture a silver medal in 2005. Following a season in Switzerland due to the NHL lockout, Thornton returned to Boston in the fall of 2005 and remained the team’s captain and on-ice leader. However, with the team struggling Thornton, who had signed three year contract earlier that summer was shipped to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Brad Stuart.
Thornton has been a San Jose player since a November 2005 trade from the Boston Bruins and has been captain since 2010. Since the trade, he has 168 goals and 549 assists, second in points to only Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, and the Sharks also have the most points and regular-season victories in the NHL.
He has 800 points in a Sharks uniform, including 60 in 66 games this season. Despite his advancing age, he remains one of the game’s great playmakers and passers.
On the international stage, Thornton was part of the Canadian team that captured gold on home soil at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.
In 2014, he signed three-year contract extension with the San Jose Sharks. Thornton is under contract through the 2016-17 season and though he is no longer the captain, he remains the face of the franchise.
Tabea Pfendsack met her husband during the 2004–05 NHL lockout, while he played in Switzerland. The became husband and wife in 2009, they held the ceremony in her native Swizerland.
The tale goes that, Tabea Pfendsack managed the bar where Joe and his teammates frequently attended.
She is also the mother of the couple’s two adorable children. Tabea Pfendsack first gave birth to daughter Ayla in July 2010. They welcomed second child, son River born in June 2013.
Tabea Pfendsack who goes as Tabea Thornton, sure knows a thing or two about children. The mom of two, teamed up with St. Thomas writer Tim Fennema for first in a series of children’s books released last year.
She has teamed up with writer Tim Fennema to publish their illustrated children’s book, The Very Hairy But Not So Scary Mouse, the debut in a planned series of books designed to “help children understand, rather than fear animals that some people are afraid of,” according to the closing credits.
