'It's a good day for a good day': Admirals forward honors late father

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Milwaukee Admirals forward Tommy Apap has been working on the perfect recipe all year. The combination of strength and speed helped Milwaukee make the playoffs. But when things aren't going so well he remembers his dad's favorite saying.

"He would just be like, 'It's a good day for a good day,'" said Tommy Apap. 

Paul Apap kept that positive mindset through a decade long battle against ALS before passing away three years ago.

"It's definitely a struggle and every day is tough for that person. It's hard seeing someone you love so much suffer like that. The more help you can get for these people the better," Apap said. 

Apap and his family started the Paul C. Apap Foundation to help families get the help they need.

"I think he'd appreciate knowing all of the money is going to people that are in need," said Apap.

That's where a very different recipe comes into play. Over the last year, Apap and former teammate, Tommy Novak, started making their own ice cream, becoming the Admirals personal ice cream men.

"Everybody has a different way of getting away from the rink. We would talk about ice cream kind of a lot I guess and then since we started talking about it other guys wanted some ice cream," Apap said. 

Once he realized how popular his ice cream was with teammates, Apap turned his hobby into a way to honor his dad. Apap auctioned off a pint of his salted caramel pretzel at the recent "Dine with the Admirals" event helping raise more than $10,000 with a chunk of that going their foundation.

The cherry on top of the season as all eyes turn to the playoffs.