AHL Marks 9/11 and Remembers Ace Bailey, Mark Bavis

The American Hockey League marked the 25th September 11 anniversary on Friday with a remembrance of the 2,977 people killed in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, including two men who belonged to this league.

Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis were AHL alumni working as scouts for the Los Angeles Kings. Both were aboard United Flight 175, which left Boston that morning. They were traveling to Kings training camp.

The league and its member clubs dedicated the 2001-02 season to raising money for the victims of that day and their families. Clubs ran jersey auctions, held boot drives alongside local police and firefighters, scheduled player appearances and sold designated merchandise.

The AHL has also supported the two foundations created in Bailey's and Bavis' names. The Ace Bailey Children's Foundation directed its work toward children undergoing medical treatment, building and improving programs, environments and professional services at the Floating Hospital for Children, part of the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston.

The Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation continues its work today, providing annual grants to selected young men and women for school tuition, summer programs and other extracurricular activities. The intent, as the foundation describes it, is to carry forward the principles Bavis lived by.

Both foundations were built around the same things: love of life, love of family, love of the game.