A SHORT TIME TO GROW UP
By Steve Hummer
Oxford Press
Monday, October 13, 2008
OH
ATLANTA — The Zach Bogosian timeline is stuck on fast-forward,
the images jumping from childhood to manhood in flickers and flashes.
It was only four years ago that a 14-year-old kid not much wider than
the stick he carried showed up at prep school to begin his formal
hockey education. That first year, Bogosian felt blessed if he got
more than one shift a game.
Two years ago, just 16, he already was facing older, more experienced
players in junior hockey, with the Peterborough (Ontario) Petes.
In May, he danced at his girlfriend’s prom, himself taking high school
classes on-line while preparing for the NHL draft. He’s still one
science credit shy of a high school diploma.
And here Friday was the Atlanta Thrashers prized draftee on site
for his first NHL regular season game. On the other side was Alex
Ovechkin and other assorted Washington Capitals. Before this season,
the last 18-year-old defenseman to play in the NHL was Columbus’
Rostislav Klesa in 2000. It’s possible as many as five may see action
in the league this season.
The NHL is all about speed, but this is ridiculous.
"Kind of strange to think about it. Four years ago, I was sitting in
a classroom in ninth grade," Bogosian said.
"I knew what I wanted. I knew I’d probably have to grow up faster
than a lot of kids. Now I’m 18, and I still have to grow up a lot
faster than other people. But I don’t mind it."
Uh, coach, do you realize one of your defensemen was at the prom five
months ago?
"Is that right?" the Thrashers John Anderson said, fashioning a
smirk. "Didja ask him what color dress he wore?"
Clearly, if Bogosian sticks with the Thrashers this year, he won’t
earn a letter jacket from the team. He’s a long way from high school,
in distance if not in time. The message is clear: Grow up, double-time.
Asked to learn more angles to the game, defensemen generally take
longer to ripen than forwards.
"It’s extremely difficult. You’re not really prepared to play defense
at the college and junior levels," said the Thrashers new defenseman
Mathieu Schneider. He’s 39 now, and broke into the NHL half a lifetime
ago, back when Bogosian was a zygote. "It takes a lot of patience,
a lot of thinking. It takes most defensemen three, four, five years
to really hit their stride in this league."
The Thrashers have nine games to decide whether Bogosian is better
served doing his apprenticeship in the NHL or playing more minutes
back in junior hockey. The clock on his three-year contract and free
agent eligibility doesn’t start until after that.
While Bogosian displayed a deft passing touch and a keen instinct
during the preseason, there are no guarantees.
The kid has prepared accordingly. Bogosian has spent the preseason in
Atlanta living out of a hotel near the team’s Duluth training facility
and bumming rides from teammates. He gave his old car to his brother
Aaron, a sophomore forward at St. Lawrence University in New York.
"I want to make sure everything falls into place before I start
treating myself," said Bogosian, displaying a defenseman’s conservative
nature.
He comes in to this job interview with some great recommendations. For
a young man who grew up in a fairly secluded fringe of New York —
you can throw a Loonie from Massena across the St. Lawrence into
Quebec — he has quickly gotten to know all the right people.
He wears No. 4, the same as the greatest defenseman, former Boston
Bruin Bobby Orr. Pure coincidence. When he was a kid picking out
numbers, he didn’t know Orr from Pee Wee Herman. And now, guess who
is Bogosian’s agent? Not Pee Wee.
"Zach just kept improving and improving," said Orr, who first caught
sight of Bogosian about three years ago. "Now he’s a very strong
skater who can pass it or shoot it well. He can really jump into the
play. And that’s what it’s all about today."
Another Bruins icon, defenseman Ray Bourque, coached Bogosian briefly
when his son played at the same prep school, the Cushing Academy in
Ashburnham, Mass. It was as if the role models were taking a number
to serve the kid.
All advice is welcomed, because the adjustments are plentiful. For one,
Atlanta has been a culture shock. This transient place has nothing
in common with where and how Bogosian grew up.
The Bogosians have been in Massena (population 13,000) since 1923,
when Zach’s great grandfather made his way there from Armenia at the
age of 16, escaping a genocide campaign by the Turks.
Bogosian heritage is his cross to bear, literally — beneath the
Thrashers sweater is a tattoo of an ornate Armenian cross running
a shoulder blade’s length. Zach’s parents still live and work on
the same block that Stephen Bogosian settled in two generations
before. When Ike, a former safety at Syracuse, goes to work, he
walks one door down to his cleaning business. Zach’s mother, Vicky,
is a hairdresser who works out of the home.
Meanwhile in Atlanta, the Thrashers require Bogosian to eventually
become the Armenian hammer on their vulnerable defense. Friday was
only one small, choppy stride in that direction. But the moment reeked
of personal significance.
The skinny 7-year-old who was playing up with the 11s and 12s was
playing up again.
Making an NHL team was the theme of Bogosian’s every childhood
dream. And here it was in his grasp, realized so quickly.
What came before seemed only like flashes and flickers.
All those miles logged in the family car to get him to some youth
game . There always was another game to play.
All the emotions that erupted after dropping off a last-born son
at prep school for the first time. Bogosian said never once felt a
twinge of homesickness when he had to leave home at 14 to chase a
hockey future. But it was never that easy on his parents. "It was a
six-hour drive home (from Cushing Prep to Massena), and I sobbed for
six hours," said Vicky, not exactly the hockey mom portrait of a pit
bull in lipstick.
And all the work and sacrificed fragments of youth that were given to
a game. Summers weren’t for vacations at the lake. For the last two,
Bogosian arose at 6 a.m. five times a week to drive 90 minutes to an
Ottawa gym for specialized workouts. He weighed 160 pounds when he
began the program. He goes 200 now.
Thinking back on everything, little wonder earlier this week Bogosian
said, "It’s kind of a surreal thing. It’s almost like you just can’t
believe that you’re here."
But that’s about all the reverie he’ll allow. There is a schedule
to keep.
"I want it to happen so badly; I’m going to do everything I can to
stick," he said. "If I play good, and keep working hard, things will
fall into place. It does make me work harder knowing I have nine games
to show that I belong, and I’m going to do everything in my power to
do that."