Richard John Brennan (born November 26, 1972) is an American retired professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the latter a reference to ...

. He played briefly in the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

with a number of teams including the

Colorado Avalanche The Colorado Avalanche (colloquially known as the Avs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Denver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The Avalanche play thei ...

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

New York Rangers The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home ...

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

, and

Boston Bruins The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team has been in existence since 1924, making t ...

Playing career

Brennan was chosen in the 3rd round, 46th overall by the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

in the

1991 NHL Entry Draft The 1991 NHL Entry Draft was the 29th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 22 at the Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, New York. A total of 264 players were drafted. The worst team in the previous 1990–91 season, the Quebec Nordiques, was give ...

out of high school. After being drafted Brennan chose to go to college and played at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

for 4 years. In 1992 he played in the

World Junior Ice Hockey Championship The IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC), or simply the "World Juniors" in ice hockey circles, is an annual event organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) for national under-20 ice hockey teams from around the world. It is t ...

for the United States. Brennan's most successful collegiate season came during his junior year (1993–1994) when he scored 35 points in 41 games and earned a number of honors including Hockey East First All-Star team honors and

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

East Second All-American team honors. After college Brennan joined the

Cornwall Aces The Cornwall Aces were the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of the National Hockey League's Quebec Nordiques from 1993 to 1995 and the relocated Colorado Avalanche in 1995–96. They were based in the eastern Ontario city of Cornwall and pla ...

for the 1995–96 season. Brennan spent the 1996–97 season with the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg. The current Bears club has played in the American Hockey League since the 1938–39 season maki ...

in addition to making his NHL debut, appearing in 2 games with the

. Brennan then signed as a free agent with the

in 1997. He spent the majority of the 1997–98 season with the Sharks minor league affiliate

Kentucky Thoroughblades The Kentucky Thoroughblades were a minor professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League, who existed from 1996 to 2001. The Thoroughblades were based in Lexington, Kentucky, playing home games at Rupp Arena. The Thoroughblades were an ...

while also appearing in 11 games with the Sharks before being traded to the

and finishing the season with the Hartford Wolf Pack. The 1998–99 season saw Brennan play 47 games with the Wolf Pack in addition to playing in an NHL career high 24 games with the Rangers. Brennan played the next 2 seasons with the

Lowell Lock Monsters The Lowell Devils were a minor ice hockey team in the American Hockey League playing in Lowell, Massachusetts, at the Tsongas Center. As their name implied, they were the top minor league affiliate of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey L ...

. During the 2000–01 season Brennan also managed to play in 2 games with the

. In 2001 Brennan signed with the

and spent the majority of the 2001–2002 season in the minors, only appearing in 4 games with the Predators. The 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons saw Brennan play with the Providence Bruins. During the 2002–2003 season he played in 7 games with the

. Brennan began playing in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

in 2004. He split one year between Swiss team

SC Bern Schlittschuh Club Bern ('' Ice-skating Club Bern'' in English) is an ice hockey team based in Bern, Switzerland. They play in the National League (NL), the top tier of the Swiss hockey league system. For the 18th year in a row, the club is the mos ...

of the NLA before transferring to

Augsburger Panther The Augsburger Panther are a professional ice hockey team in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. The team is based in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. They play their home games at the Curt Frenzel Stadion. Founded in 1878, the team's name was Augsburger EV ...

of the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Brennan remained in Germany the following season and played 3 seasons with the

Nürnberg Ice Tigers The Nürnberg Ice Tigers are a professional ice hockey club located in Nuremberg, Germany. They play in the country's premier league, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. History The roots of the team can be traced back to SG Nürnberg, an ice hockey cl ...

. Brennan then spent the 2008–09 season in the Austrian Hockey League with

HC TWK Innsbruck HC Tiroler Wasserkraft Innsbruck is an Austrian professional ice hockey team in the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL). They play their home games at OlympiaWorld Innsbruck complex in Innsbruck. History The club was founded in 1994 as HC Innsbruck ...

before retiring.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Rich 1972 births Augsburger Panther players Boston Bruins players Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey players Brantford Smoke players Colorado Avalanche players Cornwall Aces players Hartford Wolf Pack players HC TWK Innsbruck players Hershey Bears players Ice hockey players from New York (state) Kentucky Thoroughblades players Living people Los Angeles Kings players Lowell Lock Monsters players Manchester Monarchs (AHL) players Milwaukee Admirals players Nashville Predators players New York Rangers players Nürnberg Ice Tigers players Providence Bruins players Quebec Nordiques draft picks San Jose Sharks players SC Bern players SC Langenthal players Sinupret Ice Tigers players Sportspeople from Schenectady, New York American men's ice hockey defensemen NCAA men's ice hockey national champions AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans