SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … Milwaukee Admirals forward Cal O’Reilly is skating in his 1,000th regular-season American Hockey League game today as the Admirals visit the Chicago Wolves at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
O’Reilly is the ninth player in the league’s 89-year history to reach that milestone, joining Willie Marshall (1,205 career games), Fred Glover (1,201), Bryan Helmer (1,117), Brett Sutter (1,090), Harry Pidhirny (1,071), Mike Nykoluk (1,069), Jody Gage (1,038) and Rob Murray (1,018). Except for Sutter, who retired in 2024, all of the other players are all members of the AHL Hall of Fame.
A 38-year-old native of Toronto, O’Reilly is in the second season of his second stint with Milwaukee, returning to the Nashville Predators organization that selected him in the 2005 NHL Draft. After three seasons with Windsor in the Ontario Hockey League, O’Reilly made his professional debut with the Admirals on Apr. 14, 2006 – also against the Wolves – and has gone on to skate for Milwaukee (2006-10, 2023- ), the Portland Pirates (2011-12), the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (2011-12), the Utica Comets (2013-15), the Rochester Americans (2015-17), the Toronto Marlies (2016-17), the Iowa Wild (2017-19) and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (2019-23).
O’Reilly has compiled 172 goals, 592 assists (ranking sixth in AHL history) and 764 points (20th all-time) entering today. In the postseason, O’Reilly has amassed 17 goals and 48 assists in 105 contests, reaching the Calder Cup Finals with Milwaukee in 2006 and with Utica in 2015. He is one of 22 players in AHL history to appear in 100 Calder Cup Playoff games.
O’Reilly has worn the captain’s “C” for four different AHL clubs (Utica, Rochester, Iowa, Lehigh Valley), and has participated in five AHL All-Star Classics (2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019). In 2020-21, he was the recipient of the AHL’s Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award for sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey.
O’Reilly has also skated in 145 National Hockey League games with Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Buffalo, where he was teammates with his younger brother Ryan during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.
| Player | Date of 1,000th game | Team | Opponent |
| Harry Pidhirny | Feb. 2, 1965 | Baltimore Clippers | vs. Pittsburgh |
| Fred Glover | Feb. 3, 1965 | Cleveland Barons | vs. Springfield |
| Willie Marshall | Mar. 2, 1968 | Baltimore Clippers | at Portland (WHL) |
| Mike Nykoluk | Mar. 20, 1971 | Hershey Bears | vs. Cleveland |
| Jody Gage | Nov. 25, 1994 | Rochester Americans | vs. Cornwall |
| Rob Murray | Feb. 28, 2003 | Springfield Falcons | vs. Hartford |
| Bryan Helmer | Feb. 18, 2011 | Oklahoma City Barons | vs. Abbotsford (@ Calgary) |
| Brett Sutter | Dec. 21, 2022 | Calgary Wranglers | vs. Ontario |
| Cal O’Reilly | Feb. 20, 2025 | Milwaukee Admirals | at Chicago |