NHL

Without Ramsay, Lightning will lack friendly face on the bench

By TOM JONES
Published January 2, 2006

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Watching the Lightning bench during a game is almost as entertaining as watching the game itself.

On the right side is coach John Tortorella. He grimaces and flails his arms. He pumps his fist and curses. He hangs his head and pats backs.

Then there's associate Craig Ramsay on the left. Steady, quiet, calm.

"I don't think I've ever heard Rammer raise his voice," Tortorella said.

That steady influence, however, will be missing for the next two weeks as Ramsay, 54, has surgery for prostate cancer Friday. The Lightning will miss more than his nearly 50 years of hockey experience.

"It's going to be different turning around and not seeing him there," defenseman Cory Sarich said. "He has been behind there it seems like forever."

Actually, he has been there since 2001, coaching all areas of the game, but specializing on defense and special teams. While he arranges X's and O's as well as any coach, it's his good cop to Tortorella's bad cop that the Lightning will miss most of all.

"We definitely work off one another," Tortorella admitted.

"He's so calm back there," defenseman Darryl Sydor said. "He jokes back there and just relaxes everybody."

Defense is a game of mistakes. For example, a defenseman makes a bad pinch and it turns into a two-on-one for the other team. Or a weak chip out of the defensive zone turns into a scoring chance for the opponent.

Yet, when Lightning defensemen make a mistake, Ramsay is more likely to whisper a piece of advice or a joke in their ear rather than scream a few curse words in their face.

"He doesn't get flustered and, therefore, you don't get flustered," defenseman Nolan Pratt said. "If you make a mistake, you know you did already. You come back to the bench and he'll say, "Hey, you (messed) up. Forget it.' He'll tell you what to do next time and you move on."

Of course, Ramsay does more than boost confidences and crack jokes.

He usually determines which defensemen go on the ice and at which times. He looks for the right matchups, making sure, say, that Pavel Kubina goes on the ice at the same time as, say, the Rangers' Jaromir Jagr.

While the Lightning cannot replace Ramsay's gentle approach and masterful strategies, it will attempt to replace his actual spot on the bench by bringing up Darren Rumble, the former Lightning defenseman who is an assistant coach for the team's minor-league affiliate in Springfield.

"I hope he really enjoys the opportunity," Ramsay said Sunday. "He has good people to work with. I think we're real lucky right now. We don't have to be afraid of matchups. We don't have to dance around people. ... The (defensemen) really have a good feel for what they are doing now."

And does Ramsay have any advice for Rumble, especially when it comes to dealing with the demanding Tortorella?

"(If something goes wrong), lock yourself in a closet; find a place to hide," Ramsay said. "Don't be late. And turn off your cell phone.

"But, seriously, I think it's great for him to come up and see how we do things."

If all goes well, as doctors expect, Ramsay will return to the team for a four-game road trip that starts Jan.16. Until then, the Lightning will have to make do.

"We're all going to miss Rammer, there's no question about that," Tortorella said. "But we have to go about our business. He has always been a very steady influence to everything and we'll miss him."

[Last modified January 2, 2006, 10:13:04]