[Hedberg]

LW/RW Irvine Ace Bailey



111 G, 82 A, 193 Pts in 313 GP

1st (28-29), 7th (30-31) in Goals
3rd (26-27), 4th (28-29), 6th (30-31), 8th (29-30) in Assists
1st (28-29), 4th (30-31), 6th (26-27) in Points
1932 Stanley Cup champion
Member of the Hockey Hall of Fame


Toronto Maple Leaf Legends

Yet in his short 7 seasons in the NHL, Bailey established himself as a premier scoring threat and excellent defensive forward.

With his electrifying speed and heavy shot, he had star written all over him.

He allowed these sensation kids to score the goals while he became one of the game's fiercest defensive players. He was a penalty-killer extraordinaire and a great shadow.

Though his scoring totals were down, in no way was Bailey any less an important member of the Leafs than when he was their scoring hero. In fact his selfless defensive sacrifice and gritty play and leadership made him more valuable than ever, and it showed in the team's success. In 1932 he spirited a great playoff run which was capped off with the Stanley Cup championship - the first and only of Bailey's career and the first for the city of Toronto in over a decade.

disastrous collision with Bruins legend Eddie Shore resulted in Bailey fracturing his skull. At the Boston Garden, the Bruins hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. King Clancy was unceremoniously dumped by Red Horner in the Toronto zone. As he was skating back, he mistakenly checked Toronto's Irvine "Ace" Bailey instead of Horner from behind. It was a basic slew-foot - as simple as it was unsportsmanlike. But as Bailey fell he hit his head on the ice and fractured his skull. He lay twisted and twitching in a seizure-like state. Bailey had two brain operations and hovered between life and death for 10 days. Bailey eventually recovered to live a normal life but his hockey career was finished.

Hockey Hall of Fame

He made the team--as well as an immediate impression--with both his speed and his shooting ability. During his brief career, he was once the league's leading goal scorer and in 1928-29 he won the scoring title with 22 goals and 10 assists in 44 games.

Bailey was one of the most popular players ever to skate for the Leafs during his few years in the NHL

Ludington Daily News, Jan 23, 1935

The accident ended Bailey's brilliant career, almost ended his life,

Great Defencemen: Stars of Hockey's Golden Age By Jim Barber (quote originally posted by Stoneberg)

In the second period, the Maple Leafs were assessed two consecutive minor penalties, so the Bruins were on a five-on-three power play. Dick Irvin Sr., the Leaf's coach, did what any smart coach would do in such a situation: he sent out his two best defensemen - Red Horner and Francis "King" Clancy - as well as his most defensive-minded forward, Irvine "Ace" Bailey.

Bailey won the first face-off and managed to carry the puck around the ice, eluding the entire Bruins team, for nearly a minute.

When he won the next face-off, he ragged the puck again, before firing it the length of the ice into the Bruins' end.

The Montreal Gazette Feb 3, 1928 (quote originally posted by Stoneberg)

Irvin Bailey, who was the best man on the ice, started early in the game to "get" Aurel Joliat's noted "goat". And Bailey did this with such effect that the pair shared six penalties in the first period. They packed high sticks against one another throughout the tussle. Joliat was put completely off his game...

The Ottawa Citizen Jan 9, 1930 (quote originally posted by Stoneberg)

Bailey came back just in time to break up a Hec Kilrea-Lamb rush that looked dangerous.

The Vancouver Sun Oct 26, 1933 (quote originally posted by Stoneberg)

When the Toronto Maple Leafs players are penalized this season Coach Dick Irvin won't have to depend entirely on xxx and "Ace" Bailey to keep the puck out of the Leaf end of the rink until his team is back to full stregnth. For Irvin is drilling most of his staff of forwards in the fine art of "ragging" a nicety of hockey business at which few players are adept.