MILWAUKEE — Yaroslav Askarov admits beginning this year, he had no idea who Troy Grosenick was.
"Before the season? I never heard about him, you know, and I think so who's the old guy?" Admirals goalie Yaroslav Askarov says with a laugh.
Now Grosenick, the Brookfield native, is Askarov's mentor in goal.
"Trying to stay young," Admirals goalie Troy Grosenick says. "You know, I watch him in the net and how athletic and mobile he is and you know, I just try to compete with it."
But the 34-year-old can still hang and get the best, of the 21-year-old phenom.
Askarov says Grosenick has beaten him in every practice, which he finds "really funny."
"Yeah, every practice. It doesn't matter what kind of game. He's beat me. He's beat me, every day," Askarov adds
Now both have helped propel the Admirals to a franchise record 14-game winning streak.
"I think the last game, when I set the record? He congratulated me and I said ok, now come catch me," Grosenick says. "So, you know, it is there but it's not pressing. We joke about it just as much as we wanna keep it going."
Askarov, the free spirit, used to celebrate by bench-pressing the net.
"He does," Admirals announcer Aaron Sims says with a laugh. "3, 4, 5 reps!"
"You need to do some crazy things," Askarov says. "If you look in the NBA or NFL, everybody has (something) personal. That's what, fans love it. In hockey we don't have it now."
So the more reserved Grosenick? Not trying to douse his student's spirit. Just guide it.
"We want to keep it fun," Grosenick says. "But we also you know, want to keep it within reason. We don't want to be showing up another team. You know, we don't want any bulletin material going on the other side. That's, was kind of like one of the reasons we started doing the handshake, like all business."
A 13-year difference doesn't seem to be too much to overcome. Askarov is the future of the Nashville Predators. And someday he can really thank Grosenick, and the Admirals for that.
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