Patrick Williamstheahl.com writer
Thursday morning at Allstate Arena will play similar to all other AHL games Cal O'Reilly It has been suitable for nearly twenty years.
Except it will be different.
It will be the 38-year-old forward's 1,000 regular season AHL season when O'Reilly hits Milwaukee's ice visit to the Chicago Wolves (Noon on Flohockey, AHLTV), He took courses with only eight players who reached this milestone. The durable O'Reilly dressed up in 45 of 49 Milwaukee's 49 games this season, and he's in a He missed only seven games in half a season.
Back to O'Reilly was at the age of 19, a fifth-round pick for the Nashville Predators. From the moment he fits in first, it was the home game against the Wolves on April 14, 2006, until 19 seasons bypassing professional hockey, he has been finding a way to make himself useful. At that time, he was just a rookie in the Ontario Hockey League, hoping to break into the senior squad of Calder Cup contenders. These lessons came soon and he has carried them with him ever since.
O'Reilly said of the first game: “You don't know what's going to happen, and then you're on that, and then suddenly you're in a thousand games.
“You can't stay overnight, before I hit the full year, I was so happy to come in because I had the taste of it. Seeing how it looked, seeing what I needed to do, it gave me the confidence to enter my first A complete working year.”
Along that road, he played 145 NHL games, scoring 49 points (16 goals, 33 assists) in the process. He approached lifting the Calder Cup, part of a 2006 stint with Milwaukee and Utica in 2015. He helped them to the Western Conference Finals last spring after bringing his career to the 2023 signing with the Admiral. Milwaukee is at the pace of the central department, there is certainly reason to think he may be part of another long playoff this year.
O'Reilly's journey took him through Milwaukee, Portland, Wilkes Barre/Scranton, Utica, Rochester, Toronto, Iowa, Lehigh Valley, now Back to Milwaukee. He stopped with the NHL in Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Minnesota. He even had part of two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League.
O'Reilly explained: “I've always tried to be a really good teammate, first of all, a good guy and a relationship with the guys on the team. I'm not losing that love, driving, and not doing me in the summer and in the seasons Things to do so that you can maintain a high level of game and game.
“You want people to see you as selfless, great teammates.”
teammate Joakim Kemell When O'Reilly made his debut, he wasn't two years old. Milwaukee captain, 11 years senior defender Kevin Gravelsix years younger than O'Reilly. For this reason, currently in the AHL, the youngest player to the 18-year-old Rochester striker Konsta Heleniusnot yet born O'Reilly began his career.
It's okay to go on these trivial matters, and O'Reilly's teammates certainly make sure to let him know. Of course, the weather is good.
But they respect him, too. Playing professional hockey for nearly two decades is an achievement. It may be almost impressive to continue to be a valuable organization and get a contract. O'Reilly served as the comet of Comets, Amerks, Wild and Phantoms, and was always able to build itself and reinvent it when necessary.
Early in his career, he needed to win the trust of the Milwaukee head coach. Claude Noel and Ryan Lambert. As a rookie, he quickly graduated from murder. He has always been famous for his athletes' performance and has never accumulated more than 22 minutes of free throws in a season. As he progressed, he became an elite AHL-level organizer and brought himself to the NHL. But the NHL job requires different skills, and as he transitions from prospects to seniors to seniors, he manages to adapt to new roles as needed.
AHL Hall of Fame Darren Haydar Even at the end of the 2005-06 campaign, they were just teammates and O'Reilly's template. At that time, Heidal was at the top of the game. O'Reilly is 6 feet tall and weighs 182 pounds and is probably on the smaller side, especially then. But Heidal is only 5-9, 160. But he used his vision and hockey feel to be one of the best offensive talents ever in the AHL. O'Reilly thought Haydar had found a way, so why not?
O'Reilly said: “One of the big things in my game is my brain and using smart people, and I think that will definitely help me keep playing. I think in my career, in that sense, I use my mind more than my body.
“[Haydar] Not the fastest person, but he is the smartest and most skilled person on the ice, and I have similarities myself. This shows that even on this level, I can play the way I play for my whole life. He was a good guy to me, a great guy, and I think he had a big impact on me from being a teenager, seeing his career and his players. ”
Of course, O'Reilly can still produce offensively. He set a career high with 21 goals in 2021-22. His 30 points (6 goals, 24 assists) put him second in the team's scoring this season. and scoring leaders Vinnie Hinostroza Now, in the wild in Minnesota, O'Reilly quickly took over the team's top scoring position.
With O'Reilly's 1,000th game, the Admiral will honor him in the upcoming home game. His wife and their four children would be there. The same goes for his parents and in-laws, along with relatives and some former teammates. Then, it will re-operate. There are two months left in the regular season, and the Admiral has the effort to playoffs. Like most of O'Reilly's careers, he will continue to take care of the small details, make himself useful to the coaching staff and contribute.
Admiral has a chance to chase the Calder Cup title. While his young teammates can’t understand what it means to build a career like him, O’Reilly hopes they can do it one day.
O'Reilly said: “They're all amazing, and it's a big part of what I still love to play hockey and get involved in. We've had a great team here, it's so fun to play with these guys.” . It's a tight room like this. It just makes it much easier for me to keep going.
“I hope to be able to do it and still like it can make it possible for them to hopefully last as long as possible. Hopefully one day they can reach such a milestone late in their career because it's really so fast.”
During the fifty years of the American Hockey League, Theahl.com writer Patrick Williams currently covers the NHL.com and Flosports leagues and is a regular contributor to Siriusxm NHL New Network Radio. He won the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding league coverage in 2016.
