As part of the Leafs centennial season, the Star is taking a regular look at significant moments in the franchise’s history:
With the Maple Leafs two men short during the second period of a game in Boston on Dec. 12, 1933, coach Dick Irvin sent out King Clancy, Red Horner and Irvine “Ace” Bailey to kill the penalty. “Bailey was a very expert stickhandler, and he ragged the puck for a while,” explained Horner. “Eventually, (Eddie) Shore came down my side and I gave him a very good hip check.”
As play moved back into the Boston end, Shore, looking for revenge, charged at Bailey, thinking that he was Horner. “He hit Bailey and flipped him in the air, just like a rag doll,” Horner said. Bailey fell to the ice and immediately went into convulsions. The fans at Boston Garden knew that he was in major trouble. The Toronto Daily Star described the hit: “Eddie Shore knocked Ace Bailey into the portals of the pearly gates.”
Bailey lost consciousness and was bleeding from a head wound. Horner, sickened by the sight of his injured teammate, coldcocked Shore, knocking him to the ice. “(After hitting Bailey), Shore skated away in a nonchalant fashion. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that, so I went after him,” admitted Horner.
Both players had to be carried off the ice by teammates. Shore suffered a gash to the head, but Bailey’s injury was far more serious. He was being attended to by Boston doctors in the Bruins’ dressing room when Shore, having regained consciousness, went over to apologize. “It’s all part of the game,” Bailey said before lapsing into a coma.
Bailey was rushed to a hospital with a cerebral hemorrhage, and by the next morning, his condition was so poor that his death seemed imminent. A surgeon performed operations to alleviate pressure on the brain. The doctor revealed that there was “an intraventricular hemorrhage that usually proves to be fatal within a few hours. The fact that he has lived this long is a miracle.” He soberly added, “His chances of living are very slim.” A priest was called to administer last rites. Doctors were measuring Ace’s life expectancy in minutes, but by the following morning, Bailey showed sufficient recovery to give modest hope to the medical staff.
On Dec. 16, Bailey came out of his coma. Still heavily sedated, Bailey whispered, “I feel fine.” Yet, it would still be several days before he’d be out of danger.
In the meantime, Boston homicide detectives interviewed Eddie Shore. In the event of Bailey’s death, Shore would be charged with manslaughter. NHL manager Frank Patrick interviewed several players, trainers, referees and Boston sportswriters and concluded, “Whatever did occur was of a spontaneous nature, with no malice behind it.”
NHL president Frank Calder suspended Shore indefinitely. He was not permitted to visit Bailey in the hospital, but when Boston’s manager Art Ross visited the Leafs star, Ace again absolved Shore of any willful wrongdoing.
By Christmas, it became evident that Ace would survive but would never play hockey again. The NHL president announced that Shore would be allowed to return to the Bruins on Jan. 28, 1934 after missing 16 games.
Bailey returned to his Toronto home on Jan. 18, 1934. “Never before has so complete a recovery from such an injury been effected,” suggested the Toronto Daily Star. “It is to the tremendous courage and fine spirit of the hockey star himself that the surgeons attribute much of their success.”
The NHL announced that a benefit game featuring the Toronto Maple Leafs against the best players from the rest of the league would be staged in Toronto on Feb. 14, 1934, with proceeds going to Ace Bailey and his family.
Bailey insisted that he did not want to be strictly a spectator, so he was written into the script for the pre-game ceremony. An apprehensive hush fell over the crowd as Eddie Shore slowly skated towards Bailey. “The burly Shore, now wearing a helmet, extended his ungloved hand to Ace. Bailey leaned forward to grasp it and, for a brief moment, Shore spoke softly to Ace. The latter nodded, then broadly smiled. Shore skated back into line while the spectators roared their approval in one continuing chant of appreciation.”
Prior to the opening faceoff, Conn Smythe stepped up to the microphone and announced, “No other player on a Maple Leaf hockey team will ever again wear the number 6.” No sweater number had ever been retired to that point in the NHL’s history.
The paid attendance at Maple Leaf Gardens that night raised $20,909 for Bailey and his family. Following the Ace Bailey benefit game played on Valentine’s Day 1934, the idea of an NHL all-star game continued and has become an annual affair.
Kevin Shea is a hockey historian and author of The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club: Official Centennial Publication, 1917-2017. His features appear every other week throughout the Leafs’ centennial season. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinsheahockey.
Kevin Shea is a hockey historian and author of The Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club: Official Centennial Publication, 1917-2017. His features appear every other week throughout the Leafs’ centennial season. Follow him on Twitter at @kevinsheahockey.
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