Dad flies from Uganda to watch Leafs rookie
Work in Africa came ahead of Bailey’s first game, but he’ll see him in Columbus
“He’s doing something great and for a better cause. He isn’t disappointed in himself.” CASEY BAILEY MAPLE LEAFS ROOKIE
Maple Leafs rookie Casey Bailey is being introduced to the NHL and its rigorous travel schedules, but the 23year-old winger has nothing on his father’s globetrotting endeavours.
In fact, Bailey’s father, Glen, arrived at Leafs practice Tuesday, fresh off a plane and a 16-hour flight from Uganda.
It is the second time in about a month the elder Bailey has visited Africa, where, as a preacher, he assists children and families in remote villages.
“It’s awesome having him here,” said Casey Bailey, who was signed as a college free agent out of Penn State in mid-March.
“He was disappointed he had to miss my first game, but he’s doing something great and for a better cause . . . he isn’t disappointed in himself for being where he was.”
Travel is in the immediate schedule for both Baileys — they are headed to Columbus for Wednesday night’s game against the Blue Jackets. It is the second-last game of the season for the Leafs, and the second-last chance for the elder Bailey to experience his son playing in an NHL rink this season.
Glen Bailey, who put his sons Casey and Kyle and daughter Jessica into hockey in Anchorage, Alaska, is now familiar with being in the colder climates of the far north one day, and then half way around the world in a scorching African climate the next.
“He’s in a village and he helps out however he can,” Bailey said. “He sponsors something like five or six kids there and he visits them as much as he can.”
The Baileys grew up in a hockey household in Anchorage, which has now sent 14 homegrown sons to the NHL.
The Baileys frequently repainted garage doors because their sons were firing pucks and balls against it growing up.
Casey developed in the U.S college system, while brother Kyle played with Des Moines in the USHL. The elder Bailey assists with the Division One Alaska Seawolves, as well as coaching locally and driving kids to rinks.
“He helps out at a hockey school year round,” Casey Bailey said of his father. “He owns a towing company so he has time to go to different places.
“He’s one of the hardest-working guys I know, he can fix just about anything, and my mom is right there with him.”
Bailey said his mother, Dawn, joined her husband on the recent trip to Uganda, combining the family’s religious work with the commitment to raising three children and ensuring the family’s business is in order.
Bailey, like Leafs goalie James Reimer, embraces his family’s faith, and is learning more and more about the work his parents perform.
“I’m learning from my dad, getting more and more religious as time goes by,” Bailey said.
“My dad has become more religious in the last 10 years of his life and I guess it’s rubbing off on me and my brother and sister.
“We’re trying to understand what he’s doing and what my mom is doing.”
Bailey has appeared in four games with the Leafs and would like nothing more than to notch his first goal with his father in the stands in Columbus.
If not, then there’s one last opportunity this season Saturday night when the Leafs host Montreal.