Born on May 3rd 1951 in Nipigon in the Thunder Bay region on the shores of Lake Superior, Alex Dampier became the one of the most successful coaches in domestic hockey in the modern era, and arguably the most successful GB national team coach ever.
Like most Canadian youngsters Alex Dampier grew up playing hockey, in his case able to double between defensive defenceman and the left wing positions. He combined sport and academic studies at Lakeland University, where he obtained a degree in Physical Education.
By the time he was 23 years old, Alex Dampier was already coaching youngsters, and arrived in Britain in 1978 and discovered British ice hockey. He joined the Murrayfield Racers and they made the most of his talents as a defenceman and within twelve months as player/coach.
From the opening of the 1983/84 season, he made only occasional on-ice appearances preferring to concentrate on coaching the Racers. He stayed three more seasons in Edinburgh during which time the Racers helped themselves to a veritable haul of trophy silverware. With Dampier in the line-up, in three straight seasons from 1979-81, the Racers won the Northern League and lifted both the Autumn Cup and the “Icy” Smith Cup. Under Dampier the coach, they also appeared in back-to-back British Championships at Wembley, 1984 and 1985, before he moved to the East Midlands to take on the coaching role to the Nottingham Panthers in the summer of 1985.
Success followed Alex Dampier to the Lace City and the Lower Parliament Street club as the Panthers won the Autumn Cup in 1986 and 1991, and at Wembley won the play-offs in 1989, made the semi-finals the following season and were silver medal winners in the 1992 championships.
Alex Dampier took charge of his third British club in January 1993, when he left Nottingham in mid-season to make the short move up the M1 to join the Sheffield Steelers. He guided the Steelers to promotion from Division One in 1992/93 and took them to the championship weekend at Wembley the following season. At the start of the 1994/95 campaign, he took on the role of General Manager, bringing in Clyde Tuhl as his head coach and together they guided the Steelers to their first British League title.
Internationally, Alex Dampier dipped his toe in the water in 1981, when he coached the Great Britain senior team in the Pool C tournament of the world championship Peking. The trip to China proved unsuccessful and it was to be a further eight years before the seniors again ventured into world competition. However, in 1984, Alex Dampier was put in charge of the under-21 juniors for six years and twice they achieved bronze medal success at Pool C level.
In 1990, he was again appointed coach to the senior squad and they won the Pool D tournament staged in Cardiff. From this point, the GB squad surged forward via the Pool C tournaments of 1991 in Copenhagen and 1992 in Humberside as winners, to the Pool B event in Eindhoven Holland in 1993. Arguably Great Britain’s finest hour in post-war hockey came as under Dampier, the team sensationally won the Eindhoven competition and were promoted to the heady heights of Pool A for the 1994 tournament staged in Bolzano, Italy.
It had been 32 years since the Great Britain ice hockey team had appeared in the top flight and while many nations not even considered hockey powers had made huge progress in that period, most notably the Russians, for Alex Dampier and the GB team to have qualified at all was a remarkable feat not seriously dreamt of when he took control.
For his achievements in domestic hockey and for taking the national team to the highest level and re-alerting the world that ice hockey was played seriously in Great Britain, Alex Dampier was inducted into the Hall of Fame in April 1995.
Compiled with research, provided by Martin C.Harris - April 1995.
Footnotes, May 2000.
The Sheffield Steelers, under Dampier’s management, made four consecutive championship final appearances between 1994-97, with three wins, their only loss being a 12-1 thumping at the hands of John Lawless’s Cardiff Devils in their first final.
Alex Dampier left the Sheffield Steelers at the end of the 1997-98 season and joined the ISL franchise in Newcastle, the Riverkings. Midway through the 1999/2000 season, he became Director of Hockey for the Nottingham Panthers, returning to one of his old stamping grounds. At the time, the Panthers were struggling, but under Dampier, they not only reached the final of the Challenge Cup, they became almost unbeatable on home ice in the second half of the season.
Read More
