Admirals’ Cal O’Reilly on his time with Milwaukee, fans.
He played his first pro game as an Admiral in 2005 at 19. A thousand games later, Cal O’Reilly reflects on his experience with the franchise and fans.
Justin Hryckowian scored at 14:55 of the third period to lift the Texas Stars past the Milwaukee Admirals, 3-2, the their decisive Game 5 of their American Hockey League Calder Cup playoffs series May 25 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The loss was just the Admirals’ fifth in 21 elimination games under coach Karl Taylor and the second in eight win-or-go-home Game 5s.
“They work so hard in the front office … they would be so proud to win a championship,” said Taylor, who finished his sixth season as the franchise’s AHL coaching victory leader. “I’ll be honest, that drives me every day, and also Harris (Turer, team owner), because he treats us so well.
“When you put things out in the universe, that usually comes back to you. We want to win for each other, and we want to win for the city, but also for Harris and the front office and how hard that crew works in there, with a small crew building what we have here in Milwaukee, which is very special.”
Texas will play either the Abbotsford Canucks or Colorado Eagles, whose series is scheduled to conclude May 26. The conference finals – as well as the Calder Cup finals – are best-of-seven.
Milwaukee edged Texas for the regular season Central Division title and then needed a three-game comeback against the Rockford IceHogs while the Stars swept the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Hryckowian, the AHL’s top rookie, posted six goals and three assists in the five-game series against Milwaukee, including two game-winners.
Goaltender Matt Murray, in his first year with the Admirals, was spectacular throughout the regular season, with the league’s top save percentage and fourth-best goals-against average as the team exceeded expectations with patchwork lineup. In the postseason, though, he did not find the same success and ranked near the bottom in both, giving up four goals or more in three of five playoff losses heading into Game 5.
(This story was updated to add new information.)