1984–85 OHL season

The Brantford Alexanders relocated and moved back to the city of Hamilton for the 1984-85 season. The franchise had previously played in Hamilton from 1953-1976 as the Hamilton Tiger Cubs from 1953-1960, and the Hamilton Fincups from 1960-1976. In 1976, the franchise relocated to St. Catharines and played as the St. Catharines Fincups for the 1976-77 season, however, the club returned to Hamilton for the 1977-78 season. The club then relocated to Brantford and was renamed as the Brantford Alexanders for the 1978-79 season.

The Steelhawks would play the 1984-85 season out of Mountain Arena while their new arena, Copps Coliseum, was being constructed and would not open until the 1985-86 season. The team remained in the Emms Division.

The Windsor Spitfires were bought by Peter Karmanos, the founder and CEO of Compuware in 1984 and were renamed as the Windsor Compuware Spitfires beginning in the 1984-85 season.

On January 4, 1985, Bruce Melanson of the Oshawa Generals collapsed at practice and died from a heart ailment known as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome which resulted in him having a rapid heartbeat because of electrical impulses in the heart taking extra pathways. He was 18 years old at the time of the incident.^[1] Melanson was a second round draft pick of the New York Islanders at the 1984 NHL Entry Draft.

The Generals wore black arm bands for the remainder of the season in memoriam of their teammate. In his memory, the club no longer issues the uniform number "9". A memorial scholarship was also set up at his former high school in New Brunswick.

Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; PTS = Points; x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched division title

^[2]

The Kingston Canadians held the first overall pick in the 1985 Ontario Priority Selection and selected Bryan Fogarty from the Aurora Tigers. Fogarty was awarded the Jack Ferguson Award, awarded to the top pick in the draft.

Below are the players who were selected in the first round of the 1985 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.^[3]

#	Player	Nationality	OHL Team	Hometown	Minor Team
1	Bryan Fogarty (D)	Canada	Kingston Canadians	Brantford, Ontario	Aurora Tigers
2	Ken McRae (C)	Canada	Sudbury Wolves	Finch, Ontario	Hawkesbury Hawks
3	Lonnie Loach (LW)	Canada	Guelph Platers	New Liskeard, Ontario	St. Mary's Lincolns
4	Danny Hie (C)	Canada	Ottawa 67's	Mississauga, Ontario	North York Red Wings
5	Mike Wolak (C)	United States	Kitchener Rangers	Utica, Michigan	Detroit Compuware
6	Adam Graves (C)	Canada	Windsor Compuware Spitfires	Toronto, Ontario	King City Dukes
7	Don Pancoe (D)	Canada	Hamilton Steelhawks	St. George, Ontario	Cambridge Winterhawks
8	Marc Laniel (D)	Canada	Oshawa Generals	Scarborough, Ontario	Toronto Red Wings
9	Steve Herniman (D)	Canada	Cornwall Royals	Kitchener, Ontario	Kitchener Rangers Midget
10	Adam Burt (D)	United States	North Bay Centennials	Detroit, Michigan	Detroit Compuware
11	Sean Davidson (RW)	Canada	Toronto Marlboros	Milton, Ontario	Toronto Young Nationals
12	Bryan Marchment (D)	Canada	Belleville Bulls	Scarborough, Ontario	Toronto Young Nationals
13	Brendan Shanahan (C)	Canada	London Knights	Mimico, Ontario	Mississauga Reps
14	Jody Hull (RW)	Canada	Peterborough Petes	Cambridge, Ontario	Cambridge Winterhawks
15	Steve Bisson (D)	Canada	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds	Ottawa, Ontario	Ottawa Jr. Senators

• List of OHA Junior A standings
• List of OHL seasons
• 1985 Memorial Cup
• 1985 NHL Entry Draft
• 1984 in sports
• 1985 in sports

• HockeyDB