[4] Brimsek first started playing hockey when his brother, John, the second-string goalie on the Eveleth High School team, switched to defense, and Frank replaced him in the net.
Unlike most of his friends who wanted to be high-scoring forwards, Brimsek never showed any desire to play any other position than goalie.
[8] In the fall of 1934, Brimsek was invited to the Detroit Red Wings training camp for a shot at playing in the National Hockey League (NHL).
[5] Brimsek started playing for the Yellow Jackets in sixteen exhibition games in 1934–35; he won fourteen of them.
He was named to the league's second All-Star team and awarded the George L. Davis Trophy for the lowest goals against average (GAA).
The Bruins were already well established in net with future hall-of-famer Tiny Thompson, so Brimsek was assigned to the Providence Reds of the International-American Hockey League (IAHL) for the 1937–38 season.
During an NHL exhibition game, Thompson got injured and it was unlikely that he would recuperate in time for the beginning of the regular season, so the Bruins called up Brimsek.
[14] Thompson was traded to the Detroit Red Wings for goaltender Normie Smith and $15,000.00 U.S. cash on November 16, 1938,[15] and Ross brought Brimsek back from Providence.
[17] Also, Brimsek wore red hockey pants instead of the team's colors, and he was wearing Thompson's former jersey number 1.
During that seven game span, he also set the NHL record for the longest shutout streak, 231 minutes and 54 seconds.
[10] In the playoffs, Brimsek and his team defeated the New York Rangers in the semi-finals and the Maple Leafs in the 1939 Stanley Cup Finals.
[4] Continuing on the previous season's success, Brimsek won the Vezina Trophy and was named to the NHL first All-Star team for the second time in his career.
[24] Upon the outbreak of World War II, three of the Bruins' best forwards – center Milt Schmidt, left wing Woody Dumart, and right winger Bobby Bauer – joined the Royal Canadian Air Force midway through the 1941–42 season.
[26] Due to his play in the regular season, Brimsek was again named to the NHL second All-Star team.
[27][28] The next season, Brimsek decided to help the war effort by joining the United States Coast Guard.
[4] After the 1948–49 season, Brimsek requested a trade from Boston to Chicago in order to be closer to home, and to the new blueprint business he had started there.
[4] Brimsek played a stand-up style of goaltending, in which a goalie usually stays on his feet instead of dropping down on his knees to make a save.
Brimsek is also remembered for having a quick catching hand and for "taking the feet out" of opposing players that were being a nuisance in front of his net.
Brimsek died on November 11, 1998, in Virginia, Minnesota, leaving behind his wife, Peggy, his two daughters, Chris and Karen, and his five grandchildren.
Brimsek's 35 shutouts with Boston places him third on that team's career list behind only Tiny Thompson and Tuukka Rask.
[43][44] Also, Brimsek's eight berths on the NHL All-Star team are the second most among goalies in history, behind only Glenn Hall with ten.