Alex Dampier Alex " Damps " Dampier ( born May 3 , 1951 , in Nipigon , Ontario ) is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and coach . He is a member of the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame . Playing career . Dampier combined playing ice hockey with a degree course in Physical Education at Lakehead University . He played for the Cape Cod Cubs in the Eastern Hockey League during the 1972 – 73 season before joining the Muskegon Mohawks in the International Hockey League the season after . Dampier moved to the United Kingdom in 1978 and joined the Murrayfield Racers as a defender . He became the Racers ' player - coach the following season and then only played intermittently for them from the beginning of the 1983 – 84 season until he retired from playing in 1985 . Coaching career . Club . Whilst still playing ( and coaching ) the Racers , the team won the Northern League in the 1978 – 79 , 1979 – 80 and 1980 – 81 seasons ; the Northern Autumn Cup in 1979 and 1980 ; and the Icy Smith Cup in 1979 , 1980 and 1981 . After he retired from playing he coached the Racers to the playoff finals in 1984 and 1985 . In the sumer of 1985 Dampier joined the Nottingham Panthers as coach . In his second season with the Panthers they won the Norwich Union Trophy in 1986 and the Autumn Cup in 1991 . They also won the playoffs in in 1989 , made the semi - finals of the playoffs in 1990 and were losing finalists in the playoffs in 1992 . Whilst with the Panthers , Dampier was twice named the British Ice Hockey Writers Association ' s Coach of the Year in 1987 and 1989 . Dampier moved to the Panthers ' arch - rivals , the Sheffield Steelers , in January 1993 . Whilst with the Steelers , he guided them to promotion from the British Hockey League Division 1 and the following season , in the Premier Division , he took them to the playoff weekend at Wembley Arena . He became the club ' s General Manager and hired Clyde Tuhl as the head coach . Together , Dampier and Tuyl guided the Steelers to the club ' s first league championship . The following season , 1995 – 96 , the team again won the league championship ( the final one before the formation of the Ice Hockey Superleague ) as well as the playoffs and the Benson & Hedges Cup for the club ' s first grand slam . The Steelers again won the playoffs in 1996 – 97 . At the end of the 1997 – 98 season , Dampier left the Steelers for the Newcastle Riverkings . He then rejoined the Panthers as Director of Hockey midway through the 1999 – 00 season and guided them to the finals of the Challenge Cup . The following season , 2001 – 02 , he shared the coaching duties with Paul Adey before he returned to the North East to join the Newcastle Vipers for their inaugural season , 2002 – 03 , in the British National League , again teaming up with Clyde Tuyl . International . Dampier ' s first involvement on the international scene came in 1981 when he was the coach of the Great Britain team at the World Championships Pool C tournament in Peking , China . It was an inauspicious start for his international coaching career as the GB team lost all their matches and did not take part in world competition again until 1990 . However , Dampier was put in charge of the under - 21 GB team between 1982 and 1988 when they won the bronze medal in Pool C twice . In 1990 Dampier was again made coach to the senior team for the World Championships Pool D tournament in Cardiff , Wales . The team won all four of the games and gained promotion to Pool C . Despite high expectations in 1991 , the team only finished fifth in the nine team tournament held in Copenhagen , Denmark . However , the following year , 1992 , in Hull , England the team gained promotion to World Championships Pool B and , in 1993 , promotion into Pool A . However , in 1994 in Bolzano , Italy , the team lost all their matches and were relegated back to Pool B .