Garnet "Ace" Bailey - Son Of A Hockey Player

Born Garnet Bailey in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Bailey grew up playing hockey. His father, Irvine Bailey, was a star forward for Toronto in the 1920s and 1930s. Irvine Bailey's career ended when he was thirty, when a cross-check from behind, administered by Boston player Eddie Shore, almost killed him in December of 1933. The resulting head injury was almost fatal. Irvine Bailey's father was so angry that he took a train from Toronto to Boston, a pistol in his pocket, intending to kill Shore. He was picked up by police at the Boston train station before he could do any shooting.

When he was seventeen, Bailey was selected 13th overall in the amateur draft, ironically by the Boston Bruins, the team whose player had almost killed his father. Bailey joined the team in the 1968-69 season after scoring twenty-four goals and fifty-six points for a Bruins farm team, the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League.

In 1969-70, Bailey scored eleven goals in fifty-eight games; in that season, the Bruins won the Stanley Cup. They won the Cup again in 1972.

Bailey's most famous play occurred in Game 1 of the 1972 Stanley Cup finals against the New York Rangers. Late in the game, with both sides in balance, Bailey skated down the left side of the rink around Ranger Brad Park, who had the puck. Bailey, who had only scored nine times in that entire year, kicked Park's stick, and flipped the puck over Rangers goaltender Ed Giacomin and into the net. Bailey's teammate at the time, Phil Esposito, told a reporter for the Tampa Tribune, "I mean, Ace roofed it. We were so… happy for Ace. We loved that guy."

Bailey met his wife, Kathy, on a plane while he was playing for the Boston Bruins. As a member of the team, he frequently flew to away games and Kathy was a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines.

According to McHale, Bailey treated his wife "like a princess, handling all the cooking, shopping and laundry." Kathy Bailey told McHale that he often called her when he was out of town to remind her of what was in the refrigerator that needed to be eaten.