Career
Dampier combined playing ice hockey with a degree course in Physical Education at Lakeland University. He played for the Cape Cod Cubs in the Eastern Hockey League during the 1972-1973 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 1983-1984 season until he retired from playing in 1985.
Club 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.
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 Tuyl as the head coach.
Together, Dampier and Tuyl guided the Steelers to the club"s first league championship.
At the end of the 1997-1998 season, Dampier left the Steelers for the Newcastle Riverkings. He then rejoined the Panthers as Director of Hockey midway through the 1999-1900 season and guided them to the finals of the Challenge Cup. The following season, 2001-2002, he shared the coaching duties with Paul Adey before he returned to the North East to join the Newcastle Vipers for their inaugural season, 2002-2003, 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.
lieutenant was an inauspicious start for his international coaching career as the Great Britain team lost all their matches and did not take part in world competition again until 1990. In 1990 Dampier was again made coach to the senior team for the World Championships Pool Doctorate tournament in Cardiff, Wales.
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.
