Tony Hrkac Selected #5 in Top 35 Admirals of All-Time
Published on March 28, 2013 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Milwaukee Admirals News Release
Milwaukee, WI--The Milwaukee Admirals are proud to debut of the Top 35 Admirals of All-Time as the team celebrates 35 years of professional hockey, presented by BMO Harris Bank. Each week during the remainder of the season the Admirals will announce new members of the list until the top slot is awarded on Friday, April 12th.
For 16 seasons, Tony Hrkac lived the dream of being a professional hockey player, residing in 16 different cities throughout the National Hockey League, International Hockey League and American Hockey League from the spring of 1986 through 2010.
One of those locations was Milwaukee where Hrkac spent five seasons and later decided to make his permanent home. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native piled up 240 points in 218 games with the IHL Admirals from 1994-1997 and 120 points in 173 games with the AHL Admirals from 2003-2005 (picking up Calder Cup ring in 2004).
For those accomplishments Hrkac was named the fifth best all-time player in Milwaukee franchise history.
"Tony was tremendously skilled and that's the first thing that comes to mind after seeing him day in and day out," Admirals coach Dean Evason said of his former NHL teammate. "I think his competition level was higher than a lot of people thought because he really competed every night."
When Hrkac returned to Milwaukee in the fall of 2003, he was a 37-year-old fresh off two full seasons in the National Hockey League with the Atlanta Thrashers. Looking for one last shot to play in the NHL with the Nashville Predators, Hrkac instead enjoyed an amazing second go-around in the Brew City, piling up 20 goals and 59 points in 68 games as the Admirals claimed the top spot in the AHL's Western Conference.
"At that point of my career I was getting up in age, but I thought I could still play a year or two in the NHL," said Hrkac, who accumulated 132 goals and 239 assists in 758 NHL regular season games. "What kind of hurt me was the upcoming lockout, which had lot teams downsizing. I got caught up in that, but in Milwaukee we ended up having a very good team."
Hrkac saved another gear for the Calder Cup playoffs, collecting eight goals and 20 points in the Admirals' 22-game playoff run as Milwaukee claimed its first ever professional hockey championship.
"It was the closest team I've ever been a part of," Hrkac said. "It takes time to build a team, but halfway through the year we had that camaraderie and really got on a roll. We were 17-2-1 in 20 games and had the confidence to beat anybody in the league."
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