It’s been 11 years since the attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. It doesn’t seem that long ago since the world watched in shock and disbelief at what was unfolding before our eyes. It doesn’t feel like 11 years ago, but it is.

I won’t begin to presume to write anything here that hasn’t already been said or express an emotion that hasn’t been felt 1,000 times over by those who lost friends, family and loved ones that terrible morning. If what we witnessed that day is still fresh in my mind, I can’t imagine what it must be like for them.

Having been fortunate enough to work in the same circles as Los Angeles Kings scouts Mark Bavis and Garnet "Ace" Bailey, who both perished that morning, during my years on the beat covering the Edmonton Oilers, doesn’t put me in the same emotional place as so many others who’ll mark this day.

This, as those with a stake in the great game of hockey, emotional and otherwise, await word on if or when we’ll have a 2012-13 NHL season – the juxtaposition with what we saw 11 years ago makes that seem remarkably unimportant – is just my way of taking a moment to reflect out loud. This is a hockey website, after all, and not the place to delve deeper than that.

Bless you, Ace. I miss that big toothy grin of yours. So many people do. Bless you, Mark. Bless everyone who didn’t make it home that day. Bless the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters whose lives forever changed on September 11, 2001.

Listen to Robin Brownlee Wednesdays and Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Jason Gregor Show on TEAM 1260.