Flashback: Brantford Alexanders
Their history is one of modest length yet the Brantford Alexanders remain an iconic Ontario Hockey League franchise mainly because of the number of well-known players who wore their red-white-and-black jersey from 1978 to 1984.
Initially the Hamilton Red Wings, then the Hamilton Fincups and St. Catharines Fincups, the franchise moved to Brantford in 1978 only to return to Hamilton in 1984 to become the Steelhawks. From there it became the Niagara Falls Thunder before another relocation of the franchise resulted in what are now the Erie Otters.
Meanwhile, even though the OHL was never a big hit in Brantford, where the Alexanders drew average crowds in the 1,500 range, alumni representing the erstwhile “A’s” reads like a virtual who’s who.
Consider the list of Alexanders alumni who starred in the OHL and went on to notable careers in the National Hockey League — goalies Allan Bester and Rick Wamsley, defensemen Mike Lalor, Randy Ladouceur and Ric Nattress and forwards Mike Bullard, Shayne Corson, Dave Gagner, Dave Hannan, Mark Hunter, Bob Probert and Greg Terrion.
And the number of high-performance players who skated in Brantford who either didn’t make it the NHL or played there briefly is just as impressive — defensemen Grant Anderson, Bruce Bell, Mark Botell, Tony Curtale, Tom Della Maestra, Rob Moffat and Dave Robson and forwards Daryl Evans Chris Kurysh, Todd Francis, Rick Goodfellow, Len Hachborn, Mike Hoffman, Jeff Jackson, Jason Lafreniere, Kevin Lavallee, Steve Linseman, Terry Maki, Paul Marshall, Mike Millar, Arthur Rutland, Scott Vanderburgh et al.
The Alexanders never won an OHL championship — nor did they ever make it to the league finals — but they had some success under coach-general manager Dave Draper.
Three times the Alexanders hooked up in memorable playoff series with the Soo Greyhounds only to lose all three times — including a seven-game affair in 1981-1982.
GARY CORBIERE
Pound-for-pound, it says here that the toughest player to ever wear a Brantford Alexanders uniform was left winger Gary Corbiere.
Standing in at 5-foot-10 and tipping the scales at 175 pounds, the hard-nosed Corbiere played in 85 games for Brantford after being acquired in a trade with the Sudbury Wolves for fellow forward Dean DeFazio.
Hailing from Batchewana First Nation just outside Sault Ste. Marie, Corbiere went on to become a famed lawyer before he drowned in Lake Simcoe on August 8, 2004 at age 41 while out on his boat. He had a cottage on Georgina Island and traveled frequently to the mainland to work in Toronto.
Corbiere was the lawyer who successfully argued in the Supreme Court of Canada for the right of off-reserve, First Nation people to have a substantial say in the decisions made on their reserve.
The legendary, landmark case in constitutional law became known as the Corbiere Decision.
Members of Gary’s family still reside in the Sault Ste. Marie area including his dad, John (Duke) Corbiere, who once served as chief of Batchewana First Nation of Ojibways.
PHOTO: Gary Corbiere, as a member of the Brantford Alexanders.
Some great Playoff Series’s between the Hounds and Brantford. Luv these “Flashback” articles of yours RR.
Cooperalls! And those dreaded (no overtime), stupid eight-point playoff series.
The Gypsies would’ve been a better name for that franchise. Had a chance to see a couple of games in the antiseptic atmosphere of the Brantford Civic Centre.
For the talent they had, it’s too bad they couldn’t have drawn better crowds. That 1983-84 team was loaded and should have gone farther in the playoffs, but hey, no complaints from this Soo boy!
As for Gary Corbiere, thanks for the lesson. Had no idea of his prominent role in Aboriginal legal history.
love it – thanks!!
Used to get free tickets from Gary Corbiere when he played for both Sudbury and Branford. He was a great guy..
The Hamilton Fincups. What an interesting event for the team in 1976….the ice making plant broke down in the old Hamilton Forum during training camp. The team had to relocate to another arena, which was Mountain Arena, which is now the Dave Andreychuk Arena, but the locals didn’t want that. Copps Coliseum wasn’t built yet. The Hamilton Forum was demolished soon afterwards because it would be costly to get another ice making plant. So, the team moved to St. Catherines instead in 1976-77, and back to Hamilton to play in Mountain Arena in 1977-78, and then to Brantford up until 1984 and then returned to Hamilton and became the Steelhawks from 1984 to 1988, until the team moved to Niagara Falls. In 1989, the Toronto Marlboros were sold to a group from Hamilton, who become the Hamilton Dukes. Most-notably, the team withdrew from the 1990 Memorial Cup because of a bad performance and left the 2 OHL finalists instead. Kitchener and Oshawa.
hi enjoyed your article on the brantford alexanders. I was searched for infomation on the French River Rapids, as my grandson ” ALEX ” just signed to play for them, I,m from Brantford, so finding news about the “RAPIDS ” IS HARD TO GET DOWN HERE thanks
hey thats Kewl Randy ……………… lots of memories ………….. Gary went on to play for the York Yeomen and won a national championship ……………. he has 2 daughters who live in Toronto Renee and Alicia ………………. he was still playing hockey and keeping in great shape till he passed ………….miigwetch Joe
Thanks for the note and the added info, Joe.
Regards and miigwetch,
Randy
Also of interest was that Gary was traded from Sudbury to Brantford b/c he had beaten up Defazio ………….. Bep Guindolin was the coach at Brantford who traded for Gary……….. then shortly after being traded Bep was let go and Dave Draper returned as the coach ……….. i believe Draper had drafted Defazio ……Defazio was drafted fairly high ………… and Gary ended up in Draper’s doghouse for a while …………..my mom relayed the story that Brantford wanted him b/c of his Indian background he would be a nutcase type of fighter ………….
Oh yes, LOL, I know that story, Joe.
He was a such a good guy.