Doug Brennan

Doug Brennan played three seasons with the New York Rangers from 1931 through 1934. The Rangers acquired him from the Vancouver Lions of the PCHL. They had good connections with Vancouver back then, acquiring a few players from the opposite coach back then. Obviously it helped, as the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1933.

Brennan was good size, tough defenseman. In 123 games with the Blue Shirts he scored 9 goals, 7 assists and 16 points. He also earned 152 penalty minutes.

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Danny Lewicki

When Dashin' Danny Lewicki looked back at his nine year stint in the NHL he has this rather brutal assessment of himself:

"A hockey player who didn't reach his potential. I always felt I could have done better and should have done better."

An excellent skater who stickhandled and shot well, Lewicki played with Toronto, NY Rangers and Chicago.

"Possibly I was a little ahead of my time," he says. Could he play defensively? "Never!" he joked. "Oh, I did a bit, but at 170lbs I wasn't able to hurt anybody."

Lewicki scored 105 goals and 135 assists in 461 regular season games. He is one of the few players to win the Memorial Cup (Port Arthur Bruins, 1948), Allan Cup (Toronto Seniors, 1949) and Stanley Cup (Toronto Maple Leafs, 1950).

After leaving the NHL in 1959 Lewicki rounded out his career with 4 years in the minors before calling it quits. He regretfully looks back and realized maybe he quit to soon as the NHL expanded just a couple of years after he retired.

Lewicki became a sales representative with CHUM radio for 13 years before joining Acklands as an automotive supplier.

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Rene "Trudy" Trudell

Rene “Trudy” Trudell came out of Mariapolis, Manitoba with a reputation as a fine skater and stickhandler. But his NHL career was grounded before it even started, thanks to World War II.

Trudell, who actually played a season in Harringay, England, enrolled with the Canadian military. Stationed in Winnipeg he continued to star at hockey with the RCAF Bombers. He served there for four years before finally getting a chance at the NHL.

Not a lot hockey playing World War II veterans cracked NHL lineups after their service was done. The NHL had found a new wave of younger talent, and welcomed back many of the old familiar names, making it tough for a player like Trudell to crack a line up. But crack a line up he did, playing with the New York Rangers for two and a half seasons.

Trudell, a cousin of Chicago Black Hawks forward Lou Trudel, died on March 19th, 1972. He had moved to San Francisco and opened a restaurant.

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