THE BEST YOU'VE NEVER SEEN

A three-minute highlight video on YouTube clearly showcases the reasons why Massena native Zach Bogosian is certain to be one of the first players chosen in the National Hockey League draft on June 20 in Ottawa.

The video shows Bogosian's hard slap shot beating various goalies. It shows the defenseman's tough side — he not afraid to get into fights — shows his ability to skate quickly to the crease to put in rebounds, and displays his knack for changing his hands with his stick during a play.

The video ends with him skating the length of the ice, eluding four opposing defenders, and scoring a wrap-around goal.

In the past 20 years the north country has produced several standout athletes in the four major sports. Potsdam native Craig Conroy, Massena's Mike Hurlbut and Ogdensburg's Jimmy Howard have seen time in the NHL. Massena's Jim Deshaies played Major League Baseball, Gouverneur's Brian Leonard plays in the NFL and could be joined by Potsdam's Trevor Scott this season, and Lisbon native Rick Carlisle won the NBA championship with the Boston Celtics in 1986.

But Bogosian, a 17-year-old who has spent the past two years playing Major Junior hockey with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League, may be the best athlete the area has ever produced.

Yet, because he's played out of the area spotlight the past four years, Bogosian also is a name unknown to area fans.

His name is definitely known to professional hockey scouts, and he is ranked as the No. 2 North American skater by the NHL's Central Scouting Service.

"He's a great athlete," said family friend Mark Morris, the head coach of the American Hockey League's Manchester Monarchs. "I think his athleticism and his competition level are as good as you're going to see. Ever since he was a little kid, you could tell he had a lot of jump in his step and anything he picked up, from a baseball bat to a lacrosse stick, to a football or a hockey stick, he excelled at it.

"I just remember seeing him as a little kid in the back yard running like a deer. As a hockey player, watching him skate, he has tremendous feet. He has great acceleration and a long reach, and he can shoot it. He sees the ice pretty well, too. All those qualities, combined, make him one of the elite prospects in this year's draft."

TWO FATHERS

Bogosian comes from an athletic family. His father, Ike, played NCAA Division I football at Syracuse and his uncle, Steve, played at Army.

His older brother, Aaron, plays on the St. Lawrence University men's hockey team, and he's had several cousins compete in other sports at SLU.

While he inherited athletic genes from his father, Bogosian also was fortunate enough to receive hockey tutelage at a young age from Morris, who is his father's best friend.

Morris was coaching the Clarkson University men's hockey team when Bogosian was a kid, and he was a frequent attendee at the school's hockey camp each summer.

"I looked at (Morris's) kids like they were mine and he looked at mine like they were his own," Ike Bogosian said. "Mark's had a big influence on the boys, there's no question. They would be the first ones to say that. When he was at Clarkson, the boys were around him. I was fortunate that the competitive side was easy to teach and show them how to play hard, and Mark did the hockey side."

When the four Morris kids and three Bogosian kids got together, the backyard competitions were intense, but it also brought the families close.

"If you put (Morris's) family and mine in a room, you wouldn't know the difference," Zach Bogosian said. "We are all really close. Having Mr. Morris around has been great. You watch someone who's done so well coaching and playing and now when he comes over we just talk hockey, just the little things, some things you think you know but you really don't, and he points them out and opens your eyes. He doesn't harp it on me, but you can tell he wants me to succeed."

AWAY FROM HOME AT 13

Vicky Bogosian, Zach's mother, had a tough time watching her two youngest sons leave to begin the next phase of their hockey careers, the day the family drove to the Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, Mass.

"It was probably harder on Vicky more so than me," Ike Bogosian said. "I knew (Zach) needed to go. It was real helpful that Aaron was with him. I don't know if we'd have really let him go at that young of an age (13) without Aaron. He's been real mature anyway. But all of a sudden you have a lively house and then it's quiet."

Already close, moving together to a prep school a state away helped the brothers bond more.

"It was really good to have each other there," Aaron Bogosian said. "It felt like we were kind of away from prep school and kind of at home."

The experience was enhanced for the brothers by their coach, former Boston Bruins standout defenseman Ray Bourque.

"It was unbelievable," Aaron Bogosian said. "Everything he said I listened to. You can't learn from anyone better than him."

Said Zach Bogosian, "When I was young it wasn't the easiest thing. Being a Bogosian was pretty rough. My brother Aaron roughed me up a lot when I was younger. He's maybe the main reason I have a mean streak. We used to kind of duke it out, and he'd beat the crap out of me. It was good to have.

"Having two brothers to look up to, you try to be like them. They've been great role models for me in different ways — Aaron, hockey-wise, and Ike, just watching how hard he works. You learn different things from different people."

ON TO THE OHL

After two years at Cushing, Bogosian took the next step in his hockey career and joined the Petes. It was at this stage of his career that he met his agent, another NHL legend, Bobby Orr.

"It's kind of weird to think about," Bogosian said. "He's so normal. You'd never know he was Bobby Orr."

Orr's manner has had an impact on the entire Bogosian family.

"Bobby is probably the nicest person we've ever met or been in contact with," father Ike Bogosian said. "As parents, we feel real fortunate for Joe Marsh (SLU's head coach) and the way Aaron is treated. Zach feels the same way in Peterborough. We kind of have the best of both worlds."

Bogosian supplied seven goals and 26 assists in 67 games in his first season with the Petes, and he picked up 11 goals and 50 assists in 60 games this past season.

"(The OHL) is more of a pro style and more of a pro schedule," Zach Bogosian said. "There's some big boys out there. It's younger (players) than college, where guys are older and more mature. The OHL has been a great experience. If you get on the right team, you play right away."

Bogosian has missed out on some typical teenage experiences being in the OHL. He has taken high school courses online and never played on any varsity team for his hometown school, Massena.

"Moving away from home makes you more responsible," Bogosian said. "You really think about things and decisions you make off the ice. You know if you screw up one time that could be your whole hockey career. I was fortunate to get hooked up with Bobby Orr when I was real young."

THE FUTURE

Most online draft projections have Bogosian winding up being picked No. 3 by the Atlanta Thrashers. Morris's organization, the Los Angeles Kings, have the No. 2 pick, but the projections have the Kings taking defenseman Drew Doughty from Guelph, another OHL team.

"I'd be thrilled with the opportunity to see him excel at the NHL level, whether it's with us or somebody else," Morris said. "We're friends with the family and awful proud of the accomplishments he's had. This is an awful exciting time for anyone who knows him."

Bogosian's skills have been compared to those of NHL standout Chris Chelios, a player Bogosian has watched closely.

"The guys at the next level are bigger, stronger, older and fast," Bogosian said. "It will all be mental (adjustments), using my head and making right decisions and doing what's natural. For me it's about competing every night."

All the hoopla, which includes a live TV interview between periods on Hockey Night in Canada during Monday's Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, has not gone to Bogosian's head.

"I just try to stay humble about things," Bogosian said. "When I leave the rink, I usually leave everything at the rink. I try to go have fun and be a kid, somewhat, and have a normal life. If you act like a big shot in a small town, you stick out like a sore thumb. I don't want to be like that."

Still, as he heads off to Toronto on Monday for the NHL draft combine, Bogosian remains aware of just how special this whole experience has become.

"It only happens once," Bogosian said. "You have to cherish every moment of it. I always had that dream. I never let it go. I just kept working hard. I thought if I kept working hard, I might be able to get the opportunity."