[1] In 2009, she began studying at Colgate University, where she played for the Raiders women's ice hockey programme.

In 2011, she transferred to the University of Wisconsin and played her final two years of college eligibility with the Badgers women's ice hockey program.

[2] After graduating, she moved to Austria to play for DEC Salzburg Eagles in the European Women's Hockey League.

After one year in Austria, she moved to Switzerland to play for HC Lugano of the Swiss Women's Hockey League A (SWHL A).

When Dani Rylan founded the National Women's Hockey League in 2015, Brickner returned to North America to sign with the NWHL's Connecticut Whale.