LAKE PLACID – As the dust begins to settle after the tragic attacks Tuesday on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the worst is still ahead. For those whom the victims left behind, there is a feeling of rage, shock and, now, as victims are identified, grief.
The NHL was not out of the reach of terror on Tuesday, losing two members of its family as United Airlines flight 175 sliced into the second tower of the World Trade Center before the complex crumbled.
Garnet “Ace” Bailey and Mark Bavis, two scouts for the Kings, were on board that fateful flight, which originated in Boston and was headed to Los Angeles for the start of training camp.
Bailey, the director of pro scouting for the Kings, played for the Bruins during their Stanley Cup seasons of 1970 and 1972, where he was a teammate of current Islander general manager Mike Milbury.
“His M.O. as a player was he was a high-energy guy,” Milbury said. “He was energetic, kind of a catalyst type player and that’s the way he was off the ice. When you were around him, you knew there were going to be a lot of laughs.
“You brought up Ace’s name, and invariably, everybody had a story,” Milbury said.
A former linemate of Wayne Gretzky’s in the WHA in 1978, Ace went on to play for the Bruins, Red Wings, Blues and Capitals before trading in his skates for a front office position.
“It’s something that makes you put the game in perspective,” Milbury said of Tuesday’s attack and the lingering sense of grief. “The last two days, I wish I was a player because you just go through the drills and do what you’re told.”
Mark Bavis, an amateur scout with the Kings, was also among the 65 known casualties on the second plane to rip into the Twin Towers. In his second year with the Kings as a scout, Bavis was a minor league teammate in Providence with Islander head coach Peter Laviolette.
“Yesterday was tough for everyone,” Laviolette said. “Everyone has the same pit in their stomach that I have.”