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It’s been a while since I did a birthday inspired post and I thought it had been a while since I did one on a Swede, but that was just my continued being bummed they weren’t in Lake Placid this year (no offense Russia).  So Happy 20th Birthday to Nicklas Lasu :-).

Came across this article on the Atlanta Thrashers site about Zach Bogosian.    A little piece:  “…How has this summer differed from what you went through last year after being drafted?  I’m not running around as much. The guys that went through the draft this year know what it’s like. With the Team USA camp and media appearances and everything,  it was pretty draining. That camp was two weeks towards the end of the summer so put with everything else it took a lot of of you. I went from the OHL playoffs to the NHL Combine to the draft. Then there was the Thrashers development camp and world junior camp, and then I came to camp early for rookie camp, main camp, Traverse City, preseason- it never stopped. …”

Some images from the world junior camp:
 

Assumed I’d get to shoot him again in Ottawa at the tournament, but he made the Atlanta Thrashers instead.  Still managed to play for Team USA last year as he was named to the World Championship team.

The Thrashers have an official blog and it has several entries on/by Bogosian:

• 6/12/09 – on playing for Team USA
• 02/16/09 – Armenian heritage
• 12/9/08 – first blog on injury
• 12/15/08 – while out w/ broken leg
• 1/1/09 - Christmas
• 1/14/09 – time w/ Chicago Wolves
• 4/6/09 – still a teenager
• 4/15/09 – recap of first pro season

2009 first round pick Evander Kane led the Thrashers in goal-scoring during camp.

Other participants included second round pick Jeremy Morin

and invitee Josh Unice who will help lead the Windsor Spitfires in their Memorial Cup defense this year.

Article discusses changes made in 2002 both structural and mental – “…Boustedt said it used to be acceptable for Swedish junior teams to finish in the top four in international competitions. “Now the only thing the players are going for is gold,” he said. …” 

I’ve been lucky enough to be able to shoot a number of the drafted kids – click for a full list of 2009 National Hockey League-drafted players available in my archives.

I’ve included some of the Swedes in the gallery below:

• 002 – Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning
• 006 – Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Phoenix Coyotes
• 010 – Magnus Pääjärvi-Svensson, Edmonton Oilers
• 017 – David Rundblad, St. Louis Blues
• 020 – Jacob Josefson, New Jersey Devils
• 023 – Tim Erixon, Calgary Flames
• 024 – Marcus Johansson, Washington Capitals
• 034 – Calle Klingberg, Atlanta Thrashers
• 040 – Anton Lander, Edmonton Oilers
• 046 – Robin Lehner, Ottawa Senators
• 087 – Simon Bertilsson, Philadelphia Flyers
• 088 – Mattias Lindström, Carolina Hurricanes
• 143 – Peter Andersson, Vancouver Canucks
• 181 – Viktor Ekbom, Pittsburgh Penguins
• (left out Philip Samuelsson as he has now played in a IIHF game as a member of Team USA, but a number of photos in the archive which will only grow as he is joining Boston College this Fall.)

Unrelated Pt. 1 – Is there a way to make a single-spaced list w/o bullets on Wordpress?

Unrelated Pt. 2 – The televised Sugarland concert from Lexington, Kentucky (in Boston on WCVB) was terrific, much better than Soundstage concert televised earlier this year on WGBX – both are staying on my DVR which is handy since I keep their cds in my car.  Apparently tonight’s concert is going to be for sale tomorrow, but only at Walmart :-(.  Maybe they’ll include their REM cover on their next regular album.

I still don’t understand using “Joey” for an audience singalong.  Am I totally misunderstanding the lyrics? The song sounds like her friend “Joey” was killed while drunk driving.  Am I wrong?   Of course, I don’t understand why people would be yelling out during “Stay” either. 

Okay, while looking for a link for Sugarland’s website to use above – only found the “fan” membership site so grabbed the CMT artist link and discovered this:

I think I’m going to have to make an appropriate charitable donation to assuage my guilt over buying from Walmart.com – it not only has Love Shack, but several other covers, I even like the Beyonce cover judging by the mini-clip on Walmart’s website.  Thank God I’m a Presbyterian and therefore can sin (shop at Walmart) with zero need for confession or worry about going straight to hell :-).