Born in Paisley, Scotland on 17th February 1945, Alastair Brennan first played senior hockey in the early sixties, under the eagle eye of elder brother Billy, then the player/coach of the Paisley Mohawks.
When the Paisley club folded in 1970, he moved to the west coast to play for the Ayr Bruins, until he suffered a broken neck in a car accident in 1972. Despite being advised by doctors that he would not and must not play again, Alastair Brennan fought his way to full fitness, only to face the problem that no coach wished to run the risk of playing him in case of further serious injury. Determined to return, eventually Lawrie Lovell, player/coach of the Fife Flyers gave him a chance and Brennan went onto to complete seven happy years icing for the Kirkcaldy club.
He then returned to the Bruins as player/coach and apart from a brief spell with the Dundee Rockets winning a championship medal in 1983, he remained with the Ayr club until retiring after the Wembley finals in 1984. In that the first of the Heineken championships to be played at Wembley, Brennan has the satisfaction of scoring, early in the third period of the semi-final against the Murrayfield Racers. But, his and the Bruins hopes of the title were dashed as the Racers recovered from a 4-2 deficit with goals from Tony Hand (2) and Jim Lynch to pip the Bruins 5-4.
As well as brave, Brennan was versatile. After starting his career as a forward, he spent a long mid-career spell patrolling the blueline before reverting back to the wing for his final season. Having announced his retirement, he continued his association with the Ayr Bruins, serving as bench coach.
Alastair Brennan played in 47 World Championship games for Britain between 1965 and 1981. Alastair said he played in a further 55 'friendly' games for GB but as records are sparse during these years, it is not possible to verify this figure..
In senior games in British competitions, Alastair Brennan finished with a statistical record of : GP 423 Goals 361 Ass 307 Pts 668 PIM 766
Compiled with research, provided by Martin C.Harris - 1990.
Read More
