Career
Donnelly played four seasons of junior hockey (1959 – 1963) in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League with the Prince Albert Mintos and the Estevan Bruins. Known as an “excellent back-checker and a tough forward”, Donnelly started his professional career in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), playing the 1963-1964 season with the Nashville Dixie Flyers, and continued the next season in the EHL with the Jersey Devils, before moving to join the Dayton Gems of the International Hockey League (IHL) mid-way through the 1964-1965 season. He stayed with the Gems for three seasons, before being traded to the Toledo Blades in exchange for Don Westbrooke prior to the 1967-1968 campaign.
Donnelly also played three seasons (1967-1970) with the Des Moines Oak Leafs of the IHL.