Five Years Ago Today...

He played 207 games over four seasons for the Washington Capitals scoring 43 goals, tallying 71 assists, racking up 162 penalty minutes, with a combined +/- of -104. 5 of his 43 goals were on the power play and 6 of the 43 won games for the Washington Capitals, who didn't win many games during the time Garnett "Ace" Bailey played for them.

He was acquired during the 1974-1975 expansion season along with Stan Glibertson in a trade with St. Louis when the Caps sent Denis Dupere to the Blues on February 10th, 1975. He became a free agent on June 1st, 1978 and went to the Edmonton Oilers, he played only one season in the Alberta, but that one season became his best remembered because he helped to break in a new young rookie up there by the name of Wayne Gretzky. He only played 38 games that season for the Oilers and then 8 more for two minor league teams after that.

He won the Stanley Cup twice in Boston in 1970 and 1972 and he went on to become the Director of Pro Scouting for the Los Angeles Kings. On September 11th, 2001, he boarded United Airlines flight 175 heading from his home in Boston to Los Angeles for the start of the Kings training camp. The whole world watched as his flight was diverted into the south tower of the World Trade Center by Al-Qaeda hijackers. He was 53 years old.

We remember former Washington Capital Garnet "Ace" Bailey today along with the other innocent victims of the attacks on our country five years ago today. We also remember why we fight and why we MUST win.