Ramsey Hopes His Last Shot at Cup Isn’t Blocked

Mike Ramsey elevated shot-blocking to an art, building an outstanding career as a defenseman with the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins before he joined his old Buffalo coach, Scotty Bowman, with the Red Wings last season.

Ramsey has blocked hundreds of shots, but one he didn’t block Sunday haunted him after the Red Wings had lost the opener of their Western Conference final series to the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, in overtime.

With Mike Keane bearing down on him in Detroit’s zone, Ramsey had to think quickly. Should he let Keane shoot from long range and hope goalie Chris Osgood had enough time to see it? Or should he throw his body in front of it?

“He wasn’t going that fast,” Ramsey said. “If you slide into it, he might go around you. Sometimes, you go down there and they curl around you, and I didn’t know who else was around me.”

Ramsey stayed on his feet, and Keane used him as a screen to score the game-winning goal and give the Avalanche a 1-0 series lead. Game 2 will be played tonight at Joe Louis Arena.

“Hopefully, the next overtime game will go our way,” Ramsey said. “And believe me, I don’t think that’s the last overtime game we’re going to see.”

Every loss moves Ramsey, 35, closer to retirement. Because it takes him longer to recover each time he takes the brunt of someone’s slap shot in his ribs, his decision is firm.

“I just know by the way my body feels,” he said. “If I felt better about my skating, my body and my health, maybe I’d feel different. I only played 48 regular-season games.”

Ramsey was the youngest member of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, which stunned the favored Soviets and went on to win the gold at Lake Placid. (His Detroit teammate, Viacheslav Fetisov, played for the Soviets.) When he made his NHL debut, Ramsey never envisioned lasting this long.

“I said, ‘If I can play 10 years, until I’m 30, that would be great,’ ” he said. “All of a sudden, 30 sneaks up and it’s 10 years. Then you say, ‘If I can play 1,000 games that would be great.’ ”

Having passed that last season, he has one goal left: to win the Stanley Cup and join Ken Morrow and Neal Broten as the only 1980 gold medalists with their names engraved on the Cup.

Morrow won his medal and the Cup in the same year, with the New York Islanders. Broten completed his double last year with the New Jersey Devils, defeating Ramsey and the Red Wings in the finals. Broten and Ramsey are the only members of the U.S. team still in the NHL.

“Winning the Cup would top everything,” Ramsey said.

DON’T FORGET THE POPCORN

Red Wing center Steve Yzerman had some important viewing to do Saturday before Detroit’s opener against the Avalanche.

As he prepared to leave Joe Louis Arena, he was handed two tapes. Replays of goals scored against Patrick Roy? Breakdowns of Colorado’s defensive mistakes? Guess again. A close inspection revealed the tapes were copies of “The Little Mermaid.”

“Yeah, something constructive,” Yzerman said.

It had a happier ending than Game 1 did for the Red Wings. Yzerman didn’t play after the early minutes of the second period because of what club officials called a groin pull. However, he was seen holding his arm, and there’s speculation his shoulder or arm are hurt.

He didn’t skate Monday but is likely to play today, and center Kris Draper, out Sunday because of a sore shoulder, is expected to return as well.

WISHFUL THINKING

Pittsburgh Penguin winger Jaromir Jagr said he preferred playing the Florida Panthers, rather than the Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals because, “The Flyers kill me.”

Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

The Panthers handled Jagr and Mario Lemieux impressively in winning the opener, and almost came back to win Game 2 Monday before losing, 3-2. This may be a better series than expected. Florida goalie John Vanbiesbrouck held off the Penguins early in Game 1, affording his teammates time to expose the soft spots in Pittsburgh’s defense.

“Their skill level is better than a lot of people think,” Penguin Coach Ed Johnston said. “They didn’t get this far strictly on defense.”

COLOR THEM BLUE

The St. Louis Blues exceeded most expectations in taking the Red Wings to double overtime in the seventh game of their quarterfinal series, but General Manager-Coach Mike Keenan built his team to win this year, and he now has major renovations to make.

Glenn Anderson and Craig MacTavish are likely to retire, and defensemen Jay Wells and Charlie Huddy don’t have much left. Grant Fuhr is a huge question mark after undergoing knee surgery that will keep him inactive for six months.

Then there’s Wayne Gretzky. Almost obscured by Keenan’s ranting about the officiating was Gretzky’s obvious discomfort and refusal to discuss whether his back was bothering him. Keenan’s bosses vetoed a three-year deal for Gretzky before the playoffs began, and they may cite Gretzky’s infirmity and the club’s failure to get past the quarterfinals as reasons not to invest $20 million in him. However, they got their money’s worth when ticket sales jumped and TV ratings soared after they acquired Gretzky from the Kings.

Gretzky had his brilliant moments, but he can’t sustain that level anymore. Having lost the half-step that used to enable him to elude checks, he’s getting hit harder and more often than ever, and that takes a toll. But Gretzky bashers should take note: He had 16 points in 12 games, and he got one round and seven games further in the playoffs than the Kings did.

SLAP SHOTS

Gordie Howe remains absent from the Joe Louis Arena during the Red Wings’ playoff march. The night of their fifth game against St. Louis, he was dropping the puck for the International Hockey League’s Detroit Vipers. Relations between Howe and Red Wing owner Mike Ilitch have not been good, which is a shame. . . . Colorado center Mike Ricci is so desperate to score, he asked teammate Joe Sakic to work on his sticks in the hope that Sakic’s hot hand would infuse the sticks with some magic. Nice theory, but it hasn’t worked so far. Ricci has only two goals.

Colorado Coach Marc Crawford, on being an assistant to Detroit’s Bowman at this year’s All-Star game: “It was a pleasure to be around him. Just to be around him and see how he operates is an experience. A lot of people say he’s not very open, but he was open with me. Maybe he was trying to milk me for all the information on our team.” . . . Chris Phillips, a defenseman with Prince Albert of the Western Hockey League, was ranked the top prospect for June’s entry draft. Center Alexander Volchkov of the Ontario Hockey League’s Barrie Colts was ranked first at mid-season but fell to second after breaking his foot in January.

Tampa Bay Coach Terry Crisp, about to be forced out so General Manager Phil Esposito can put pal Wayne Cashman behind the bench, would like to land in Toronto. He and Maple Leaf General Manager Cliff Fletcher led Calgary to the 1989 Stanley Cup. The Maple Leafs have talked to Tom Renney, who has coached Canada’s Olympic and national teams. He’s also a candidate in Vancouver. . . . Former Montreal and Toronto coach Pat Burns is the favorite to replace Terry Simpson with the soon-to-be-moving Jets.

Penguin center Ron Francis, idled because of a broken foot, has tried to speed his recovery by using a bone stimulator and sitting in a hyperbaric chamber. His mother was making a vitamin potion for him too. But nothing is likely to get him back this season, even if the Penguins get to the finals.