When Jason Bailey walks around campus, he looks like a typical university student. But what separates him from his peers is that he’s a former professional hockey player.
The Ottawa native, like most young hockey players, dreamed of making it to the pros.
But after two years playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and another three spent in the minor leagues, Bailey, 24, has retired from professional hockey.
“It was tough,” he said. “I just took a lot of time with my family, my agents, and it just took time to decide what might be best for me, and we decided that school would be the best thing for right now.”
After rising up through the Ottawa minor hockey system, he achieved a lifelong goal of getting drafted into the NHL, when the Anaheim Ducks selected him in the third round of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
Following the draft, he played a year and a half with the University of Michigan hockey program, but opted to leave his NCAA team mid-season to come home to play for the Ottawa 67’s of the Ontario Hockey League.
In 2008, he accomplished his dream of making it to the pros when he joined the Bakersfield Condors, a mid-level professional team in the East Coast Hockey League.
After that season, he was traded from the Ducks to his hometown Ottawa Senators, where he spent two seasons playing for the Sens’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Senators.
Bailey’s 2010-11 season with the B-Sens ended on a high note when the team won the Calder Cup.
“Being in Binghamton was definitely the high point of my hockey career,” Bailey said. “I played there for two years and I really loved it. All the fans are behind you. The whole town really was behind us, and it was a pretty amazing thing.”
Just a few months after winning the Calder Cup, Bailey announced his retirement, after the Senators didn’t offer him a contract. He chose to return to school and enrolled at Carleton. Bailey said he was still interested in playing hockey at the university level, but due to his previous experience, he was ruled ineligible to play by Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) regulations.
“I actually looked into [playing CIS hockey]. I am ineligible to play,” Bailey said. “That was the first thing that I talked [about] with my agent when we were looking at going to school. We were looking at hopefully playing some Canadian university hockey. It would have been a lot of fun, and I wish [the Ravens] the best of luck this year.”
Due to his ineligibility, Bailey was never in contact with any CIS teams about him playing for them.
A player is eligible to play for five years, according to CIS hockey rules. For every year a player plays professionally or in the NCAA, he loses a year of eligibilty in the CIS. Because Bailey played two years in the NCAA, and spent three more years playing in the minor pro leagues, those five years prevent him from trying out for the Ravens.
But even though he cannot play CIS hockey, Bailey said he’s excited to be a student again.
“It’s nice to be walking the halls again,” he said. “I’m taking a math course and an economics course. I will be looking towards going into business.”
As for hockey, Bailey said he’s unsure of what the future has in store for him.
“Just play here and there,” he said, smiling. “Maybe some outdoor rinks, maybe a league here, but I haven’t thought about it too much. It will be fun definitely to play.”
