Prince George Cougars' newly-acquired winger Nikita Krivokrasov was just a baby when he and his family moved from Minnesota to Moscow, Russia, where his dad Sergei finished his pro career as a forward in the Kontinental Hockey League
He can't recall watching his 10-year NHL veteran father play but sure remembers those dressing room visits on game nights.
"I have little flashbacks of me going down to the locker room and hanging out with the guys," said Nikita, who joined the Cougars last week in a trade from the Tri-City Americans.
"After the games the coach would go in and talk and I'd go sit on (Sergei's) lap and listen to the coach. Watching those guys play at such a young age you don't really realize but I look back on it now and I'm grateful for the opportunity I got to see my dad.
"Obviously the whole point of coming here is to try to play professional hockey in the NHL and watching those guys and everything they do and how professional they are with their diets, their workouts and their practices in the off-season, that's a big part of the learning process. Hopefully I can take away a lot of those skills and put it into my career and make something out of it."
Standing five-foot-11 and weighing 200 pounds Nikita is built like a truck, with old-growth forest legs. He has the same body type as his dad and uses that lower centre of gravity to his advantage to create turnovers along the boards.
"I'm kind of a hard-nosed player, like to play in the corners, whatever the coach tells me to do I'll do it - anything to help the team win," said Krivokrasov, whose Cougars are in action tonight and Saturday at CN Centre against the Kamloops Blazers.
"I think I have my dad's work ethic but he had a lot more skill than I do. I picked up a few things from him. Obviously he had a great career so I can take away some of the things he learned."
Sergei scored 86 goals and had 198 points in 450 NHL games over 10 seasons (1992-02) with Chicago, Nashville, Calgary, Minnesota and Anaheim. An original member of the Nashville Predators, he started out in the Red Army for two seasons before he went to the NHL. He won Olympic silver playing for Russia in 1998 and played for five teams in the KHL from 2004-08.
Sergei, now 45, lives in Miami and works with former NHL forward Oli Jokinen at the South Florida Hockey Academy, coaching the U-18 triple-A team. Nikita goes back there in the off-season to work on his own skills.
"My dad is my biggest supporter; from Day 1 he pushed me and he was hard on me and I think that helped me out," Nikita said. "Now it's all on me and I rely on myself because of all the lessons he's taught me through the hockey process and I'm really grateful to have him in my life."
Sergei grew up in a small town Siberia, the son of an oil worker, and his family struggled to pay the bills. He had to work for everything he accomplished in life and in hockey and Nikita shares a similar passion to reach his own goals.
"My family over there is not the richest and to get to see how hard they work every day and see what they go through makes me work harder," Nikita said. "As tough as my days can be, their days are worse. He was put in a situation where he could have got distracted by the outside world and wasted his time in the Red Army but he made the most of it and had a great career and I'm proud of him.
"My grandparents on his side have all his all his trophies, all his childhood memories, and for me it's cool to see. It just makes me work 10 times harder to see my dad's success."
Nikita, who turns 19 on Dec. 23, was born in Woodbury, Minn., and moved to Russia shortly after his first birthday. He lived in Moscow until he was 10, when the family moved to Colorado. His hockey career caught fire with the Rocky Mountain Roughriders academy program in Westminster, Colo., near Denver and at 15 he signed his first WHL contract as an undrafted player with the Prince Albert Raiders in 2016.
Krivokrasov had three goals in 34 games for the Raiders in 2017-18 and the following season went back to the States to play for the Omaha Lancers (USHL) and Corpus Christi IceRays (NAHL). He started this season with the Americans and had two goals and two assists in 10 games when he was traded to the Cougars for a conditional eighth-round pick in the 2020 bantam draft.
Krivokrasov arrived in Prince George just before the game against Edmonton Tuesday and did not look out of place, killing penalties and taking a regular shift at left wing. He already knew Cougars captain Josh Maser and defenceman Rhett Rhinehart from the time they played for the Raiders and formed an immediate bond with Cougars winger Vladislav Mikhalchuk, a native of Belarus whose native tongue is Russian.
"Tri-City is a great organization and I have nothing but great things to say about them, but I had a rough go with injuries and then a suspension (a one-game sentence for a kneeing major and game misconduct against Vancouver, Nov. 2)," he said. "They were trying to go young and they didn't see me playing fourth-line minutes so they gave me an opportunity to come here and I'm thankful for it.
"I've had an interesting career so far in the Western League but it's all positive and you take away all those experiences and you've got to use them to your benefit.
"I've seen a lot of great players in the league and I've taken away things that I want to be like them and things I want to be better than them. I'm enjoying it for sure. I believe in myself and I know I can put the puck in the net once I get going. It's just all about consistency and being confident and I think as the season goes on I'll be more confident every game."
