Bakersfieldian

DULUTH, Ga. -- Zach Bogosian said it was the kind of collision in which nine times out of 10 times, nothing happens. This unlucky occasion, however, proved to be the 19-year-old Atlanta Thrashers own personal Halloween nightmare, ruining what was shaping up to be a fabulous sophomore season. Playing against the Senators in Ottawa last Oct. 31, the No. 3 pick in the 2008 Entry Draft fell behind the net and hit his left hand on the iron. Then someone fell on top of it. Bogosian's thumb was broken and his wrist was injured. Bogosian, a righty-shooting defenseman whose wrist shot had produced 8 goals in his first 17 games -- tops among all NHL defensemen -- could no longer generate any power with his top hand. He ended up playing through the injuries -- something he later said he should not have done -- missing only one game all season. But instead of reacting and firing the puck at the net as he naturally would have done, he had to think about how he would play the puck, usually a pass because of his ineffectual shot -- and in a game like hockey that allows only milliseconds to make decisions, his game and his confidence began to unravel. Bogosian said it was "definitely a tough year." "I didn't play at 100 percent at all last year" after the injury, he said. "I was still feeling it at the end of the year. The only way an injury like that is going to get better is with rest, and time was not really something I wanted to take off. I just wanted to keep at it. "It's not like it was a career-ending, career-threatening injury. It was something that if I battled through it, it'd be OK. It was hard in like December and January and stuff, but the pain eased by the end of the year. But I was never 100 percent." In the two weeks following the injury, he somehow scored three times in his next seven games and even had a plus-4 night at Los Angeles. Maybe it was adrenaline. But he couldn't sustain it. Over his final 64 games, Bogosian totaled just 2 goals and 11 assists and was minus-17. Yet Bogosian kept mum about the injury until April. When a player gets injured and attempts to play through it, he sometimes unwittingly causes another injury by compensating too hard. In this case, Bogosian hurt his confidence. "Personally, you're sitting there and everyone's talking about how bad or this game or that game, but really they're not feeling the pain," he said. "They don't really know what it's like. But obviously, at the beginning of the year, I got off to the good start. I mean, there wasn't any more pressure on me than what I put on myself." He said teammates supported him in the locker room, but it could not have helped that before the injury Bogosian was mentioned as a candidate to make the U.S. Olympic team. He was not selected. Meanwhile, the player selected ahead of him in his draft year, Los Angeles defenseman Drew Doughty (second overall in 2008), went on to star for gold medal-winning Team Canada and finished third in the Norris Trophy balloting. Comparisons are inevitable. Thrashers defenseman Ron Hainsey, Bogosian's partner for much of last season, made that comparison unsolicited. "It hampered him a lot of the year, but it is what it is," Hainsey said when asked if he thought Bogosian would rebound from the injury. "We'll see. It's going to be a little different here with the new staff. It's a learning process on defense. Not everybody 18 or 19 -- it's unfair to compare, but Doughty was such a dominant player for Canada and they were drafted so close together -- but it doesn't always work like that. "He'll be fine. He's got all the tools to be a great player. It's just putting them all together, staying healthy, obviously. He's on the right track, so no point putting too much pressure on him, but he'll be fine." When the season ended, Bogosian remained in Atlanta for several months working out. He did wrist curls in an effort to strengthen the injured wrist and try to prevent future injury. He left for a few weeks, visiting his family in Western New York, and now he's back at the Thrashers' practice facility several weeks early, skating with his teammates to prepare for the year. He has met new coach Craig Ramsay for only a few minutes, but general manager Rick Dudley has big hopes for what Ramsay, one of the NHL's best teachers, will do for Bogosian's game. Dudley has credited Ramsay for, among others, helping Dan Boyle to become one of the NHL's elite defensemen while with Tampa Bay, and, more recently, turning Boston rookie Johnny Boychuk into a player who could go plus-2 and play 28:07 in Game 3 of the second round of last spring's playoffs. In a short meeting, Ramsay discussed what he has in store for Bogosian. "I think one of the things he stressed on the other day was instead of me going in and kill someone, or trying to go for the big hit, trying to contain," Bogosian said. "You don't want to go for a big hit in your own zone because then the guy can spin off you and can walk in and score. "I just want to learn the game. I want guidance and I'm all for it. I want to do a lot of things I haven't done in the past, like video and stuff like that." -- Zach Bogosian "So different things like that. I just want to learn the game. I want guidance and I'm all for it. I want to do a lot of things I haven't done in the past, like video and stuff like that." A criticism leveled at the Thrashers' former coaching staff by outgoing veteran Slava Kozlov last April was that the team did not do enough video work and was not prepared. Bogosian said he was looking forward to working with Ramsey, who was hired after John Anderson was let go. "It was a little tough," he said. "Every coach has their different ways of teaching, and I think that the way Craig will be with me, from what I've heard, it will be good for me to do a lot of video and stuff like that." Hainsey recalled when he left Montreal for Columbus and had the good fortune to play for Stanley Cup winner Ken Hitchcock, one of the game's preeminent teachers of defensive hockey. "I don't know most of those guys [on the Thrashers' new coaching staff], but I know they really plan on being teachers," Hainsey said. "That's something that can only help. From my own experience, once I got to Columbus and had Hitchcock there, he was the master teacher -- or whatever -- it turned my career around. It really did ... It's usually defenseman who have a little more of a learning curve. "If you take advantage of it and take it in, great things can happen." Bogosian said whether it's scoring 20 goals or blocking shots, he just wants to do whatever he must to help the team make the playoffs. In that regard, he thinks his influx of new teammates from the Chicago Blackhawks will help, as will the arrival of free-agent goalie Chris Mason from St. Louis. But if Bogosian can transform himself into the dominating No. 1 defenseman he was drafted to be, that could help as much as anything. "As long as he's improving and getting better -- he's already our best skater; he has been since he got here," Hainsey said. "Once the other stuff catches up, the sky's the limit. It really is."

I've never seen this many Armos on one card! California Xtreme Fighting http://rabiddogmma.net/CXF12908.jpg

With M1 Global promising a huge global presence, we are definitely going to be seeing more Armenians in MMA. Arman Gambaryan http://www.m1mixfight.com/storage/images/343.JPG http://www.m1mixfight.com/storage/images/342.JPG

So this is how Armenia gets rid of it's high mileage prostitutes.

Is anyone else watching TUF? Manny Gamburyan, who is one of Gokor's top students, is in the house this season. Lightweights have an edge as it is, just imagine what happens when you throw an Armo in the mix! Previews say he blows up next week. The Ultimate Fighter

Especially that crap he was yelling when he was running away naked.... It was almost surreal

I've always been a Borat fan. What's really funny is that the guy travelling around with Borat, the character Azamat Bagatov (mentioned in a previous episode as having his anus broken by a giant from Turkmenistan) is actually played by Armenian character actor Ken Davitian. I'm really looking forward to this movie!

Thanks for the link. Trigg called me up arguing otherwise. (Trigg and Mauro take their jobs very seriously and try to constantly improve their work) After Amar's last performance I'm not sure if he will be invited back. But if he is, he won't be referred to as an Armenian. Mousasi, on the other hand, looks like he could be. Unfortunately he doesn't train with anyone I know.

What ethnos is this guy? Amar Suloev I've been arguing with Frank Trigg about this as he keeps referring to Amar as Armenian. I say no. What do you think?

Hello everyone. I've been growing tired of listening to many Greeks who keep claiming we have repeatedly sided with the turks against them. Example: http://www.holyfire.org/eng/index.htm This is just one example I had thrown in my face recently. Any examples of the Greeks siding with the turks would be greatly appreciated. (With links to back it up, of course) Edited to remove Link

Karl Sogoian was an honorable man who's memory will not be forgotten.

Oh God No!!!

NO NO NO and did I mention NO!!! Abandoning Christianity in favor of a relationship is a crime. It's a HUGE slap in the face to our ancestors who willingly gave their lives for our faith. Armenians without Christianity are NOT Armenians.

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! You brought the correct before I had to.

There is nothing legally keeping me from discussing the matter. I just personally didn't want to get into the details of my situation because it involves family members.

I'd rather not get into details on here but I owe the court about $24k and until then, they've seized and frozen my passport. Maybe somebody with a sister might want to work out a deal?

Seriously, I would be glad to help except for the fact that the US government has seized my passport. Nothing $24k wouldn't fix.

From ArmeniaNow.com: (Harutyunov points out that Armenia also benefits from 18 MiG-29s located on Russian bases in Armenia, intended for the defense of Armenian airspace.) Now those are real aircraft! This actually is much more important than those Slovakian rust buckets they wasted money on in a purely symbolic move.

It's actually an excellent idea. Who better to teach us how to persecute minorities than Lithuania and Latvia. Those guys are the best!

The alledged "science" of race tends to be nothing more than political foaming at the mouth. Disagree with the current politically motivated theories and face the wrath of those who do nothing more than parrot Franz Boas and Margeret Mead. Furthermore; Sociology, in and of itself, is a fraud created to further the agendas of the above mentioned characters and their ilk. It starts with theories (or wild assumptions like the thread starter) and then looks for (read: only at) "evidence" to support it, no matter how thin. In the past few decades it's disintegrated into an irrational cult with the ability to force it's ideas on just about everyone who attends a college or university.

A friend and former FDIC enforcer (the guy who sent Charles Keating to prison) picked up a laptop 2 days ago. The first thing I showed him was how to log on to all of that "free" pipe contaminating his living space. It turns out he had 4 different networks he could log on from his living room. A BIG THANK YOU to all who have helped build an almost seamless network in Irvine with their home and business routers.

Happy Birthday Maral!!!

This is your real problem! Deal with this and the migraines might go away.

Another thing that works for taking the "edge" off of the pain is a really vigorous message. If you have anyone who will do that for you, don't let them go.

Enough with the vodoo already.... As someone who's suffered from severe migraines for many years, I've learned what works and what doesn't (both legal and not so legal). The only "legal" combo that I know works is ibuprofen (400-800mg) combined with cafeine (50mg minimum). Worthless: Naproxen Sodium, Tylenol (unless combined with an opiate and cafeine), aspirin. So.... Take 2-4 advils, drink a large cup of coffee (or smaller Armenian coffee), drink plenty of water, and rest in a cool/quiet place. Learning self hypnosis is also extremely beneficial.