Brian McDonald

Brian Harold McDonald (born March 23, 1945) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre.

Career McDonald played 20 games in the National Hockey League, with eight being playoff games with the Chicago Black Hawks during the 1967–68 season. In August 1969, he was acquired by the Denver Spurs of the Western Hockey League, with the Black Hawks having the option to buy his contract after the season ended. Described as being able to work "either center or right wing...has a hard, quick, accurate shot", he had 34 goals in 70 goals with Denver, who purchased his contract during the season. McDonald ultimately did make an NHL roster in the 1970–71 regular season but with the expansion team Buffalo Sabres, who acquired him in the inter-league draft for $30,000. He played the first game on October 10 (where he recorded 17 penalty minutes) and ultimately played twelve of the first 14 games but recorded no goals or assists. He went down to the WHL in November 1970 with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. He played the following season with the San Diego Gulls.

When the upstart World Hockey Association came around in 1972, McDonald was among the players drafted by the Houston Aeros. He had 20 goals in his one season with the team. He also had three goals in the 1973 WHA playoffs. He played for the Los Angeles Sharks the following year, where he recorded another 20-goal season. When the team moved to Michigan to be the Michigan Stags, he played 18 games for the team before latching onto to the Indianapolis Racers between 1972 and 1977, where he finished with 17 goals. He played two more seasons with the Racers, having 16 and 15 goals. He played 304 games in the league, which was among the top 125 for players in the professional league.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular seasonPlayoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 1962–63 Weston Dodgers MetJBHL 31 30 30 60 — — — — — — 1963–64 St. Catharines Black Hawks OHA 56 31 44 75 98 13 7 11 18 28 1964–65 St. Catharines Black Hawks OHA 56 47 61 108 100 5 4 2 6 34 1964–65 St. Louis Braves CPHL 3 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1964–65 Buffalo Bisons AHL 1 0 1 1 0 — — — — — 1965–66 St. Louis Braves CPHL 70 13 33 46 45 5 1 2 3 2 1966–67 St. Louis Braves CPHL 67 10 33 43 59 — — — — — 1967–68 Dallas Black Hawks CPHL 67 24 45 69 104 5 0 4 4 21 1967–68 Chicago Black Hawks NHL — — — — — 8 0 0 0 2 1968–69 Dallas Black Hawks CHL 67 19 41 60 65 11 7 6 13 28 1969–70 Denver Spurs WHL 70 34 34 68 54 — — — — — 1970–71 Buffalo Sabres NHL 12 0 0 0 29 — — — — — 1970–71 Salt Lake Golden Eagles WHL 56 29 18 47 70 — — — — — 1971–72 San Diego Gulls WHL 63 24 22 46 88 4 0 1 1 24 1972–73 Houston Aeros WHA 71 20 20 40 78 10 3 0 3 16 1973–74 Los Angeles Sharks WHA 56 22 30 52 54 — — — — — 1974–75 Michigan Stags WHA 18 3 5 8 15 — — — — — 1974–75 Indianapolis Racers WHA 47 14 15 29 19 — — — — — 1975–76 Indianapolis Racers WHA 62 16 17 33 54 7 0 1 1 12 1975–76 Mohawk Valley Comets NAHL 10 5 9 14 17 — — — — — 1976–77 Indianapolis Racers WHA 50 15 13 28 48 9 3 4 7 33 WHA totals 304 87 74 161 212 4 0 1 1 24 NHL totals 12 0 0 0 29 8 0 0 0 2