On the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, NHL.com columnist Larry Wigge wrote a poignant account on the loss suffered by the NHL that fateful day. Los Angeles Kings scouts Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis were on one of the planes that were crashed into New York's World Trade Center. On the second anniversary of the attacks, we present Larry's piece again so no one will ever forget Bailey, Bavis and the other victims of Sept. 11, 2001.

It still seems like only yesterday when unimaginable death and destruction fell from the clear blue morning skies above the World Trade Center towers in New York City, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and in Pennsylvania.

We'll never forget the ordinary folks who came from all over the world to band together and help rescue the trapped and injured -- who showed the kind of humanity we'd all like to be remembered for.

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But for anyone who has had the opportunity to visit Ground Zero to see the living memorials for all of the dead, injured and missing from that horrific September 11 morning, for anyone who knew someone injured or killed in that act of cowardice, life may never be the same again.

I've visited Ground Zero, seen the devastation of what once was a symbol that all the world recognized as part of the skyline of democracy that represented New York City ... and now stands as a symbol of unparalleled patriotism. It's still hard to believe that in just 23 minutes of such a promising day that those glorious skies could be turned to doom and lead to 2,823 deaths and an estimated 1.643 tons of rubble. But sadly it will forever stand as a day that changed America.

I didn't know anyone who was in those gleaming towers or the Pentagon, but I was jolted and saddened nonetheless to learn that two of the passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 175 that crashed into one of the towers were Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis, both scouts for the Los Angeles Kings, who were flying from Boston to Los Angeles for their team's training camp and lost their lives.

One year later, the tragedy is no less traumatic. My mind continues to wander at the thought of a friend like Ace Bailey, whom I covered as a player for the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals and Edmonton Oilers and as a scout for the Oilers and Kings and Bavis, Bailey's young protege.

***

You never forget people who helped you when you just start in a new job -- and one of my favorites I met early in the 1969-70 season was Jack Paterson, the United States scout for the Detroit Red Wings.

Ace Bailey was a tremendous friend, teammate and scout, a man who is sorely missed by those he touched.

Like many scouts, Paterson had a gift for gab and a story for every subject. One night just before Christmas in 1969, that white-haired talent evaluator sat next to me and began to chatter about the anonymous life scouts have and how the job required more than just an eye for hockey's next superstar.

"It's funny," Paterson began. "You go to a junior hockey game and you have a whole row of scouts watching. Everyone is trying to keep his own secrets. It's not uncommon that the first scout in the row turns to the next guy and says: 'Great skills, but his hockey sense isn't what you might expect -- and by the time the whispers get down the other end of the row everyone is wondering about the player's hockey sense. Amazing!'

"Evaluating NHL players is totally different. The players are older and should be more complete. Here, you are mainly looking to fill a spot with a particular type of player. Chemistry is key here."

Midway through Boston's 3-3 tie in this game at the old Arena in St. Louis, Paterson points to the ice and says, "You look down on the ice right now and how can you not see Bobby Orr. But championships aren't won on superstars alone. Look at that stumpy guy over there in the corner. His name is Garnet Bailey. They call him Ace.

"What a piece of work he is. The guy skates hard, but he would never be confused with a candidate for the Ice Capades. His hands are OK, but he still would never be considered a goal scorer -- unless they made the target a lot bigger. But no one on the Bruins has more character and determination. He's a winner."

Blues VP Lynn Patrick chimed into the conversation.

"I was with the Bruins when they were looking at Bailey," he said, chuckling a little. "The word on him was that he was out of control -- he would take his team out of a game with a late penalty too often. But what I liked about him was that he was like an unbridled stallion. And how many times do you see that stallion become the best horse on a ranch after he's broken in?"

That was my first contact with Ace Bailey. And that was a look at the art of scouting circa 1970. It was almost all word of mouth. There were no satellite dishes to tape all of the games. In fact, there were no tapes to watch, just a keen hockey sense -- and a job that would take the scout on the road for about 250 days a year and away from his family.

Mark Bavis was paving his own path in the scouting ranks when his life was taken prematurely one year ago.

By the way, the Boston Bruins went on to beat the Blues in the Stanley Cup finals that season. And Bailey, that player many scouts overlooked because he lacked the skills of a star, helped make the Bruins winners in 1970 and '72. He spent 10 seasons in the NHL with the Bruins, Paterson's Red Wings (I wonder who recommended that acquisition?), St. Louis (remember what Lynn Patrick said about him) and Washington and finished his career helping a youngster named Wayne Gretzky break into the World Hockey Association. I remember telling Bailey about that press box story about his skills and intangibles later that night in the Boston locker room in 1969. In fact, I reminded him of that night often when he played in St. Louis and in ensuing years when I would run into him around the NHL -- yes, as a scout.

Funny isn't it. That stumpy-looking guy wound up trying to find the same kind of character and intangibles for the Oilers and Kings as a scout before he and fellow scout Mark Bavis were taken from so prematurely.

"You spend all of your waking hours as the general manager of a hockey team trying to fill a hole here or there," Kings GM Dave Taylor said recently. "But you know something, trying to replace an Ace Bailey or Mark Bavis is even more difficult.

"The work of scouts often goes unnoticed. But not to me. It's invaluable. It's the lifeblood of our operation. It's like the thread that ties up all the loose ends."

***

In late June, I remember bringing up the subject of Bailey's death with Gretzky at the draft in Toronto. Even months after the catastrophe, it was obvious Wayne's scars from losing a great friend and mentor had not healed.

"We all sat there in horror watching those planes crash into the World Trade Center towers," Gretzky said. "How could someone be so disrespectful to life? It's something I know I'll never forget.

"And it becomes even more of a trauma when you learn that a very close friend was taken from you by such an act of terrorism. Ace Bailey was more than a roommate and friend to me, he was like a father to me."

"Ace Bailey was more than a roommate and friend to me, he was like a father to me." -Wayne Gretzky

In life, Bailey, 53, was a classic people person. An aging player once he got to Edmonton, he didn't have to counsel a teen-ager like Gretzky, yet he had all the time in the world to teach the young phenom -- and yes, even hold Gretzky's white-knuckled hand while he was trying to overcome the fear he had for flying.

"No one taught me more about how to carry yourself in this game that Ace Bailey," Gretzky said, his voice breaking. "He taught me to be serious when I had to be on the ice, but not to take myself too seriously off the ice. He was a real prankster, always kept everyone around him at ease.

"I'm going to forever imagine Ace up out of his seat fighting those terrorists. I'm going to imagine Ace fighting to the end."

Me, too.

Ace Bailey was one of those outgoing, affable guys who always had a smile and a story, and it would not be uncommon for both to be evident well into the wee hours at a bar with other scouts or NHL players or officials talking hockey.

Bailey lived in Lynnfield, Mass., a north Boston suburb, having remained there after starting his NHL career in 1968-69 with the Bruins. He is survived by wife Kathy and 22-year-old son, Todd.

In an 11-year, 568-game career in the NHL, Bailey scored 107 goals and 171 assists with 633 penalty minutes. He was in his eighth year with the Kings after 13 years with the Oilers organization as a scout and minor league coach. Bailey was a part of the Oilers organization for their five Stanley Cups and only moved on to Los Angeles after Gretzky coaxed him to come to L.A. in 1993.

Bavis, 31, was starting his second season with the Kings after playing college hockey at Boston University, in the minors in the New York Rangers' organization. His twin brother Mike is still an assistant coach at BU.

Bavis was one of Bailey's favorites, too. He caught Bailey's attention as a player and again as an assistant coach at Harvard and as a head coach for Chicago of the North American Hockey League (Some more of that character, grit and determination showing through no doubt).

Bailey helped get Bavis his job with the Kings as an amateur scout.

"He has that certain something," Bailey once told me.

***

The rink and the airport and the airplane and the rental car and the bar are home for the scout. Few people travel more. Few people spend as many days away from home. Few people know what it is to squeeze four into a compact car in mid-winter and drive across the prairies to stop in Flin Flon and Moose Jaw or Yellow Knife for games on consecutive nights.

Bailey often spoke of loyalty, of the same kind of character and passion in people that Jack Paterson pointed out to me on that December night in St. Louis in 1969. Ace was loyal to a fault. He wasn't afraid to fight for a friend, on the ice or in an alley.

In fact, it was just a year ago at a bar in South Florida after the draft that Bailey was regaling the entire room with stories about his days as a father figure, roommate and friend to Gretzky -- first in Edmonton and then in Los Angeles.

"Unbelievable," Bailey bellowed. "I remember getting on an elevator in Calgary one night when the Oilers and Flames rivalry was at its fiercest. Two guys were bad-mouthing Wayne Gretzky. Can you imagine that? Gretz takes the game to a different level and these Flames fans are calling him a baby, saying that he cries to the referees too much.

"Well, down went the elevator and they are still moaning about Wayne. Finally, I had enough and I said something to them. The conversation turned angry. One of them swung at me and I ducked. Then the other guy took a swing and caught me on the shoulder. I think it only took a couple of rights and lefts to shut them up. That's all. When the doors opened in the lobby, I just strolled out as if nothing had happened, leaving two people on the floor bruised and moaning."

Hey, I was at that Calgary hotel in the mid-1980s, when all of Edmonton and Calgary were hockey-mad. I'll never forget that sly look on Ace Bailey's face as he exited the elevator and one of the hotel attendants went scurrying for a doctor.

This wasn't a mean spirited assault and battery, there wasn't a mean-spirited bone in Bailey's body. It was one friend defending another friend's honor.

***

Like that lesson in Hockey 101 I received from Jack Paterson in 1969, it was clear that Bailey had graduated to the masters class in scouting. The same character, passion and love for the game that Ace Bailey always displayed as a player became a byproduct of that he looked for in a prospect when he became a scout.

"Coaches always worry about the chemistry of their team and how a new player might fit it," Kings coach Andy Murray told me late last season when the subject of Bailey and Bavis came up. "Whenever Ace or Mark sent me a player, I knew they were going to have character and a great passion for the game. That was a given."

And it's a given that no one in this tight-knit hockey fraternity we live in will soon forget Ace Bailey or Mark Bavis.

Like Gretzky, I have to believe that Bailey and Bavis were not sitting still while Flight 175 was being hijacked and run into the World Trade Center tower -- not when the honor and safety of all of those passengers on board was at stake.

We'll never forget you guys.

Veteran hockey columnist Larry Wigge is a frequent contributor to NHL.com.