Thousands of miles from home, NHL prospects are building their own Russian community in Milwaukee
Five thousand miles from home, Yaroslav Askarov, Fedor Svechkov and Egor Afanasyev have built their own little Russian community in Milwaukee.
Grouped by the Nashville Predators as top prospects and drawn together by language and culture, they’re a team within a team with the Milwaukee Admirals, the hottest club in the American Hockey League.
“We have a couple Russians here and it’s really great,” Askarov said. “We feel comfortable. … We feel great off ice. That’s why we feel great on ice.”
Afanasyev is the most veteran of the Admirals’ Russians in terms of both North American professional experience and time in the United States. The just-turned-23-year-old left wing from Tver moved to the Detroit area in time to play in high school and juniors. That’s where he caught the attention of the Predators, who picked Afanasyev in the second round of the 2019 NHL draft and assigned him to Milwaukee in 2021-22.
Askarov came next and has been a fan favorite since his arrival. The flashy 21-year-old goaltender from Omsk was a first-round pick in 2020 and was whisked to the U.S. in 2022 after his Russian season ended and as his country’s invasion of Ukraine gained steam.
Svechkov, a center, was a first-round pick in 2021 who arrived last spring, just after his 20th birthday, and he lived for part of the offseason at the Nashville home of the Predators’ Yakov Trenin, a former Admiral. At the start of the AHL season, Svechkov’s teammates – in addition to Afanasyev and Askarov – included forward Denis Gurianov, who came from his hometown of Tolyatti.
“We had four guys,” Svechkov said. “When I had bad games or good games they would support me, and it helps.”
In some ways, the assimilation Afanasyev, Askarov and Svechkov have experienced is just another step in their hockey journey, but it’s also the most drastic.
Russian Admirals player adjust to life in Milwaukee, far from home
“It’s never easy, but at the same time, we’ve been doing this stuff for all our life,” Afanasyev said. “It’s all the time.
“Maybe, yeah, country matters a little bit, but it’s all the same thing: You come to a new team, meet the new guys. The only thing in the way now is language and culture. Culture, we’ve got each other. They’ve got the wives too, somebody they come home to. Because if you’re by yourself it’s tougher. They’ve got their wives here that they come home to and eat food and speak their own language. So I think for them, it’s been easy.”
At least easier than it might be.
“I just love hockey,” said Svechkov, who saw his parents in Turkey over the summer but hasn’t been back home. “Here I am playing and I’m trying to show my best hockey here. I have good support here, Russian guys and my wife’s here. Sometimes I’m sad because I’m not at home and I miss my parents, but I know … what this is all (about). I want to play here, play in the NHL in the future and be a good player.”
Hockey being such an international game, the Admirals frequently have had Russians but it’s unlikely there had been three, much less four, on the roster at the same time, a team spokesman said. During Trenin’s three-plus seasons in Milwaukee from 2016-20, he had a Russian teammate in just 18 of his 163 games.
If Afanasyev’s memory serves, he was on the ice with Svechkov and Gurianov for a shift or two with Askarov behind them.
Admirals have won 12 straight
All have been big contributors for the Admirals, who have won 12 straight games – one short of the team record – and 19 of their past 21. They lead the Central Division with a record of 29-10-1-0 at the all-star break.
Afanasyev leads the team in goals scored (19) is second in points (38) and ranks third in the league with a plus/minus of plus-25.
Svechkov is tied for third in goals (12), and his 29 points are fourth-best, as well as ninth among rookies league-wide.
Askarov has the third-best goals-against average in the league (2.17) and has had three shutouts and six single-goal games.
And Gurianov, who led the team in scoring when he was called up by the Predators in early January, still ranks in third in points (30) and tied for third in goals with Svechkov.
More: Milwaukee Admirals schedule
Trips to Chicago provide a 'little home' for Predators prospects Egor Afanasyev, Yaroslav Askarov, Fedor Svechkov
If there’s a Russian community in Milwaukee beyond the Admirals locker room, Afanasyev, Askarov and Svechkov haven’t found much of it beyond a couple of grocery stores that cater to Russians and Ukrainians – “our stores,” Afanasyev calls them – on the east side. To be truly re-immersed in the culture requires a trip to the Chicago area, where twice this season they’ve gone to a bathhouse.
“You see Russians, you’ve got Ukrainians there, people from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,” Afanasyev said.
Belarus, Askarov added.
“It feels like little home, and it’s really helped us,” Askarov said. “We love to be here, but sometimes when we feel we miss home, that is good.”
Although naturally drawn together by language and culture, the Admirals’ three Russians are aware of the importance of also being connected to the Americans, Canadians, Finns, Swede and Latvian who’ve worn the same uniform. They say it’s not a problem. Askarov, for example, rooms with French Canadian rookie Zach L'Heureux on the road.
Sometimes English conversations still move a little too quickly for Svechkov – “Some are like ‘bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh-bluh’ to me,” he said – and then he may ask for help or play along. Generally, though, language isn’t a barrier, and when Russian is spoken for comfort, it’s usually about anything but what’s going on at the rink.
“Maybe sometimes we get pissed off at hockey. That’s what we talk about,” Afanasyev said. “But usually it’s life.
“It’s usually on the busses, planes, it’s usually about life. Life, dreams, just thinking about the future, laughing about the past.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Predators prospects build Russian community within Milwaukee Admirals
