Colville put country above hockey but still managed to have a Hall of Fame career.

Born in Edmonton, Colville began his hockey journey in 1934-35 with the New York Crescents, a New York Rangers farm team in the Eastern Amateur League, and had league highs of 24 goals and 35 points. The next season, he moved up a level to the Philadelphia Ramblers of the Can-Am Hockey League and played well enough that the Rangers put him in the lineup for his NHL debut on Nov. 19, 1935.

Colville joined the Rangers full time in 1936 and he was at his best as the center of the Bread Line, with younger brother Mac Colville and Alex Shibicky. In 1937-38, Neil Colville finished fourth in voting for the Hart Trophy as the League's most valuable player, and the next two seasons was named to the NHL Second All-Star Team. In 1939-40 he tied for eighth in the NHL with 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists) and during the Stanley Cup Playoffs tied teammate Phil Watson for the League lead with nine points (two goals, seven assists) in 12 games to help the Rangers win the Cup.

In 1942 Colville stepped away from the NHL to serve in the Canadian armed forces during World War II. He was stationed in Ottawa but still managed to play hockey, including captaining the Ottawa Commandos to the 1942 Allan Cup, awarded annually to the best men's senior amateur team in Canada.

Colville returned to the Rangers late in the 1944-45 season but as a defenseman. He was named New York captain in 1945-46, and in 1946-47 led Rangers defensemen with 20 points (four goals, 16 assists). In 1947-48 he helped New York return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs after a five-season drought and was named to the Second NHL All-Star team. He's one of two players in the history of the NHL, along with Dit Clapper, to make an NHL All-Star team as a forward and a defenseman.

He retired from the NHL after playing 14 games with the Rangers in 1948-49, and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1967.