Thrashers’ Bogosian makes parents proud

Detroit — Ike and Vicky Bogosian drove eight hours Sunday to see their son’s first game in an NHL jersey.

Vicky brought a camera. Did she get any good pictures?

“Oh, yeah,” she said with a laugh. “His No. 4.”

It takes a mighty long lens to capture a hockey player’s face from the second level of an NHL arena. That wasn’t an issue mere months ago, when Zach Bogosian played in the 4,000-seat rinks of junior hockey. But Sunday the 18-year-old first-round draft pick started for the Thrashers against the Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings, before a crowd announced at 17,714.

“It’s definitely a big step,” Ike said. “I thought he played pretty well.”

Zach’s coach, general manager and teammates said they thought so, too.

Coach John Anderson liked the way Bogosian carried the puck up the ice. General manager Don Waddell said, “He looked pretty steady for a guy playing his first game.” Goalie Kari Lehtonen and Bogosian’s fellow defenseman Tobias Enstrom also saw good things.

Bogosian was far from perfect in the 4-0 Thrashers loss. He started the game a little shaky, and assistant coach Todd Nelson spent a lot of time talking to him after each of his early shifts.

“It was butterflies obviously, your first NHL game, you’re playing against some of the biggest names of hockey,” Bogosian said. “That was pretty cool. Just getting my first game out of the way feels pretty good.

“I think after the first period I calmed down. The last two periods I played better.”

Even then, there were issues. A turnover early in the second period led to a breakaway. A hooking penalty soon followed.

He was wide on a slapshot in the second period but did a good job sending the puck toward the net from the point a couple of times in the third. The official statistics listed him sharing the team lead with two shots on net and two hits delivered. He also blocked a shot.

Bogosian had been wearing No. 44 since joining the Thrashers, and even his parents were surprised when he took the ice in his old No. 4. The number change, Anderson said, is not a sign Bogosian has made the team. The Thrashers have until nine games into the regular season to make that decision.

“We’ve got lots of time yet,” Anderson said. “He’s such a work in progress right now. This game is just a starting point.”

Not just for Bogosian, either. The Red Wings outshot the Thrashers 27-6 in the first two periods. A different group of Thrashers players lost 9-4 at St. Louis on Friday. The common theme in this 1-2 exhibition season has been too many penalties and too many breakdowns.

“We’re at such an early stage of this year and my coaching regime,” the first-year coach said. “It’s going to take time, maybe a little bit longer than I thought.”

How long will it take Bogosian? Very few 18-year-old defensemen play in the NHL, but Sunday night showed he will get at least a very long look. The Thrashers threw him into the deep end of the NHL pool, in Hockey Town, against players like Henrik Zetterberg and Chris Osgood. No Thrashers player spent more time on the ice than Bogosian in the first two periods.

He has faced some of the best his sport has to offer, in one of the toughest places to play. And when Vicky Bogosian arrives home in Massena, N.Y., today, she’ll have with her the photographic evidence to prove it.