Meet the team.

Jake Thibeault

Along with the name Jake Thibeault comes the title hockey player. Growing up in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Jake fell in love with the game of hockey. Every day you could find Jake shooting pucks, in the gym, or on the ice and doing what he could to become the best player possible. Jake seemed to always have to go the extra mile and push a little harder than his peers in hockey, and that work eventually would pay off. Jake started his hockey career in Fitchburg at the age of 4 and made it all the way to Milton Academy where he would don the M and play at one of the highest levels of high school hockey in Massachusetts. Jake had a goal of playing hockey collegiately and his goal was almost reached.

However, on September 4th, 2021, Jake would skate down the left side of the rink in a fall hockey game with the Boston Bulldogs and take a life-changing hit by the defender. Jake suffered a broken T-7 vertebrae that would change his life. Jake became paralyzed from the waist down. Immediately Jake and his family were in uncharted water and did not know what was the next step. A day after as Jake laid in the ICU Thomas Smith and The Thomas E. Smith Foundation stepped right in to help both emotionally and financially. Jake truly believes he and his family would be lost to this day if it was not for Thomas and The Foundation.

Jake graduated from Milton Academy on time and is currently an undergraduate at Babson College. Each day Jake puts in 3 to 4 hours of work towards his goal of walking again. Thomas Smith’s impact on Jake is unlike that of anything else and for that reason, Jake has joined The Foundation. It is Jake’s hope and plan to have the same positive impact that Thomas had on him with others confronted with a life-changing injury.