Admiral’s O’Reilly votes for the winner of the Fred T. Hunter Memorial Award | theahl.com
Springfield, Massachusetts. …The American Hockey League announced today Cal O’Reilly Admiral Milwaukee is the winner of 2024-25 Fred Hunter Memorial Award As the AHL player who best reflects sportsmanship, determination and dedication.
The award is voted by coaches, players and media members representing each of the 32 member cities of the league.
O’Reilly returns to Milwaukee for his unforgettable 19th professional season, with highlights set to become the ninth player in the U.S. Hockey League on February 20, skating in the regular season of his 1,000-season career. O’Reilly was also the first-place up-and-coming Admiral’s lead scorer, with 48 points (11 goals and 37 assists), while scoring nine points and four minutes of free throws in 67 games.
Since debuting with the Admiral on April 14, 2006, the Torontoman now contributes (6th in AHL history) with 177 goals and 605 assists (6th in AHL history) and has scored 782 points in 1,021 games, as well as his 192 career minutes, including zero professional or misconduct – equivalent to every 10.6 games per 10.6 seasons, equals every 10.6 games. O’Reilly is also one of the 22 players who have ever played in the 100 Cup playoffs, reaching the finals in 2006 at Milwaukee and in 2015 with Utica, where he has captained four different AHL organizations during his career (Utica, Rochester, Iowa, Lehigh Valley).
Originally selected by Nashville in the fifth round of the 2005 NHL Draft, O’Reilly is a franchise leader in points (331), assists (254) and games (398) (398) (398) at the Predator branch of Milwaukee. He played 145 games with the National Hockey League in Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Minnesota.
O’Reilly also received honors in 2020-21, the fourth time it was awarded for the award, which was first awarded in 1978 in honor of the deceased Fred T. HuntIt is a long-time contributor to the league, he is a player who won three Calder Cup titles and is a general manager in his career, mainly with the AHL’s Buffalo Bisons and the NHL’s NHL’s Buffalo Sabers. Previous winners of the award include Ross Yates (1983), Glenn Merkosky (1987, ’91), Bruce Boudreau (1988), Murray’s Eaves (’89,’90), John Anderson (1992), Tim Tookey (1993), Ken Gernander (1996, 2004), Randy Cunneyworth (2000), Mike Keane (2007), Bryan Helmer (2011), Jack Dowell (2014), Tom Kostopoulos (2016), Craig Cunningham (2017), Brett Sutter (2019), John McCarthy (2020), Logan Shaw (2023) and Spencer Cavaliers (2024).
Since 1936, the American Hockey League has continued to be the top development league for all 32 national hockey league teams. Nearly 90% of players in NHL games are AHL graduates, and the American Hockey League has been more than 100 members of the Hockey Hall of Fame for years.
2024 – The winner of the 25th Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award (Distinguished Coach) will be announced on Monday.
