Sitting here on a glorious sunny fall-like day in Boston, much like it was seven years ago today when our world forever changed. September 11, 2001 is a day that goes down in infamy and one I’ll never forget.

That fateful day was ironically also the day I was to begin my career as a hockey journalist. Bruins players were reporting to training camp and I was to drive to Wilmington, MA about 20 minutes north of Boston and grab some quotes from the players. But as I was driving there, practice was canceled, and I turned around more and more in disbelief, wondering if the whole day was actually happening?

When I got back to my house, I saw on the TV that Kings scout and former Bruin Garnett “Ace” Bailey was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, the first plane to hit the towers. I realized then there was no way the Bruins would’ve been able to do business that day. Bailey was one of the friendliest guys and best pranksters you’ll ever meet, as I had the pleasure of experiencing as a PR intern for the Islanders. I would greet the press and scouts at Islanders games when they arrived and “Ace” always stopped to chat and never failed to make us laugh. One time he took the whole crew out to dinner and we were in tears the entire night!

Well, even though that’s all I knew of “Ace”, I broke down in tears the instant I saw his face on the news and learned that him and fellow scout and Boston native, Mark Bavis were on that plane. That’s when the magnitude of that day hit me and chances were if you were from the Northeast, you had some connection to a victim. While working for the Islanders, I actually lived in Long Beach, NY a town full of NYPD and NYFD members. I remember hearing about the constant funerals that took place there in the following months.

The one good thing I remember in the months that followed though, was how everyone became so united and how the sports world and fans stood tall. There was that Flyers-Rangers game where they decided to end the game and broadcast President Bush’s speech, or the Yankees-Diamond Backs World Series and of course the best Super Bowl halftime show ever:

Regardless of your politics, never forget those who lost their lives on that day and the families they left behind! Always be grateful for those that have fought and are fighting for our freedom. May they reach a point where the fighting is not needed and there's peace on earth.

With it being September, that does mean that hockey is right around the corner and in fact many players across the league have already started skating with their teammates and reported to camps. The Bruins have had a large contingent at their informal workouts and Murphy’s Law has taken in two days at the “Freezer” aka Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington. Not much to report other than the usual “I’m ready for a new year and I did this over the summer”, mantra, but one quote from defenseman Andrew Alberts did seem odd. When asked what he thought of the current blue line unit in Boston, Alberts replied:

“I like it, but I hope I’m part of it. There are no guarantees here and I need to earn my spot. We’ll see how camp goes.”

Now of course this could just be Alberts being humble, but the tone in which he spoke struck this scribe as one of a player who isn’t sure he will be sticking around. Alberts just signed a new one-year deal over the summer but he will be an unrestricted free agent next summer at age 28 and the coaching and management staff have made it clear that youngsters such as Matt Hunwick, 23, and Matt Lashoff, 21, will be given every chance to make the staff.

So there is a good chance that one or two of the defensemen that finished last season with the Bruins may not be on the roster for the season opener and based on what we’re hearing around the league, Alberts could be a prime candidate to get dealt.

While many players report to their respective teams, former Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin continues to ponder whether he will come back and play at all. As it’s been said here before, it is Sundin’s right to take as long he wishes, but the question here is at what point should that right be taken away for the current season? The NHL reportedly is discussing a rule that would prohibit a player like Sundin form playing if they didn’t make a choice by November 1. This rule can’t go into effect soon enough! NBC and CBC analyst Mike Milbury touched on this last January on our show…

I agree with what Milbury said there. Something needs to be done, and not just for the reasons he and my colleague Kevin Greenstein point out, but also as we’ve seen this summer with the Sundin saga, that such a situation can hamstring the teams interested in the player’s services and also as many general managers around the league will tell you, the trade and free agent market. Sundin’s indecision has indirectly caused some free agents (hello Brendan Shanahan!), to remain unsigned.

Speaking of Shanahan, Larry Brooks of the New York Post recently reported that the door is till open for Shanny to return to Broadway and it’s likely that is what he will do.

After Sundin told the media in Toronto last week that he isn’t close to making up his mind yet, news broke this week, that another team has entered the Sundin sweepstakes. Not surprisingly, that team turned out to be the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Lightning under the new ownership team of Oren Koules and Len Barry have been the most aggressive team in the off-season, signing numerous players and trading away the likes of defensemen Dan Boyle and Filip Kuba for fellow blueliners Matt Carle and Andrej Meszaros.

While Koules and Barry should be commended for trying to improve the team, they do have their critics throughout the league and in the media. Boyle and Kuba reportedly were pressured to waive their no-trade clauses and former Head Coach John Tortorella also echoed such claims regarding Boyle. This ownership group and their management staff, led by Brian Lawton have been criticized for forgetting what led to the demise of the former regime on the ice. The Lightning has drastically improved up front, but even with the addition of Meszaros, they still appear to be lacking on defense.

Murphy’s Law has been told on more than one occasion this past summer that this Lightning ownership group is going to be “trouble” for the league and that “they don’t treat people with respect”. We’ll hold off on judgment here until further notice and research into that, but such reports of ignoring a player’s no-trade clause, don’t bode well. While we don’t necessarily agree with no-trade clauses, they’re part of the game and regardless of whether Koules and Barry granted those clauses to Kuba and Boyle, they should’ve honored them with more respect if this was indeed the case.

Erik Erlendsson touched on the possible pressure put on Boyle and Meszaros by the Lightning in his blog Thursday.

Finally, circling back to the history of this day and also September 12. As I told you above, my first day on the Bruins beat for the Boston Metro was delayed a day because of the attacks on 9/11. When I finally got to the rink the next day, it was a solemn atmosphere with many in attendance shocked at the news about Bavis and Bailey. That day I had the pleasure of meeting Wayne Cashman who was and would be for the next five years, an Assistant Coach for the Bruins.

Cashman always had a good story to tell and of course that day he had plenty of “Ace” stories and helped turn tears into laughs that day. Fast-forward to September 12, 2003, when the world lost one of its greatest musicians, “The Man In Black” Johnny Cash. Of course it’s been made known here that yours truly is a huge fan of Cash, and upon seeing the Bruins’ “Cash”, after “The Man In Black” had passed, he told a great story about the music legend.

It turns out Cashman was a huge Johnny Cash fan as well and during his playing career he had a chance encounter with Cash. As he was walking down the hallway after a practice at the old Boston Garden, Cashman looked up and saw Cash standing outside his dressing room preparing for a show that night. He looked around and had nothing to sign until he saw Bobby Orr’s stick sitting there beside him. He quickly realized that this could be a rather unique souvenir! So he borrowed a pen form the trainer and got Cash to sign Orr’s stick. The stick still hangs on his basement wall.

RIP Johnny Cash, Garnett “Ace” Bailey, Mark Bavis and those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001.