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A champion at last

Fredonia native Nick Bailen wins Austrian hockey league

By Christian Storms 14 min read

In Fredonia native Nick Bailen's first season of professional hockey, he came within one victory of winning the Kanada-malja, the championship trophy in the top tier of Finnish hockey. Bailen and Tappara took a 3-1 series lead over Karpat, but three consecutive one-goal losses ended in overtime and with the 2013-14 runner-up medal.

"When you're young and you have that early-on success like I had in my first year, you start to think it will be easy after that," Bailen said about playing for a championship. "We were up 3-1 in that series, too, and then lost Game 7 in overtime so that was a bittersweet loss. You always think it will be easy to get back here and then I never did for 13 years."

In his 13th professional season, Bailen finally got another chance at a championship. Bailen's opportunity came with the Graz99erz in the Austrian league and made this chance count as the Graz99erz capped off a perfect 12-0 playoff run to win the league title.

"Winning was obviously a huge part of the great experience this past year brought," Bailen said. "When I left Germany and went to Austria that team was under new ownership and they fulfilled their promise to a lot of players they brought in that they wanted to build a championship team. I think myself and a couple of other guys were a huge part of that, and it was a really cool experience. It was finally nice to win something for myself after 13 years playing pro. I've been close a couple of times, but never reached that finish line."

Twelve years between championship appearances, Bailen did not lose a step in his game as he scored two goals and 10 assists for 12 points in his 10 playoff appearances en route to winning his first title.

"We had a good mix of older guys, younger guys and a couple of guys that won it," Bailen said about the Graz99ers mindset in the playoffs. "From an older guys perspective, there was one guy, Korbinian Holzer, who played in the NHL for a handful of years and this was his 20th year pro and he had never won. So me and him talked to the team a lot about seizing the opportunity at hand and for the younger guys between 19-24 that had never won it to really just seize the opportunity at hand because you never know. We really emphasized from Christmas onwards to take every game super seriously and work towards that end goal."

You never know where your career will take you and how long it will last so you have to seize opportunities when they come to you. Bailen took full advantage of his moment, going from a rookie struggling for icetime early in the season with Tappara to someone securing himself a long historic career among the European leagues.

"Halfway through that year in Finland I wasn't really playing," Bailen said about his rookie year. "I think it was about 10-12 games in that the coach told me he didn't trust me and said he thought I was too offensively focused and wasn't defensively responsible enough so I wasn't playing a lot of minutes. I thought I was just going to retire and go get a job, but there was an older guy on our team who said to, 'work hard and do what he says because if one of these defenders gets hurt you're going to be on the powerplay. You're more offensively talented than them, but this player has been with this coach for six years so obviously he's going to trust him, just bide your time.' Unfortunately for that guy, he did get hurt a week or two later and I stepped in and I think I had 28 points in the last 30 games of the season so then it was, 'boom' and the career trajectory started tilting."

After success with Tappara, Bailen made the move to Minsk, Belarus to compete with Dinamo and began one of the greatest careers an American defenseman has ever had in Russia's top league, the KHL. In just eight seasons between Dinamo Minsk and Traktor Chelyabinsk, Bailen scored the most points by an American defender in league history and finished fifth all-time regardless of position

However, a championship eluded him all of those years until making his way to this group in Austria.

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Bailen grew up playing in the Northern Chautauqua County Youth Hockey Association, but at 9 years old he left Fredonia to pursue more competitive travel hockey in Buffalo and at 15 he began playing for St. Francis Prep.

After just one season playing with the Red Raiders, it was time for Bailen to advance to junior hockey, but that was no easy feat for the undersized defenseman.

Despite going undrafted into the United States Hockey League -- the premier junior hockey destination in the states -- Bailen was able to make a name for himself earning spots on the roster of Bowling Green State University before ultimately transferring to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he earned NCAA All-American status as a sophomore and then again as a senior.

Out of the First Team All-Americans in 2012-13, Bailen was the only one to not receive an NHL contract as the league still had its reservations about signing 5-foot-9 defensemen.

"Everybody that finished First Team All-American that year got a deal, but myself, again," Bailen stated. "I was like, this isn't fair. But at the time the game was different in terms of how they approached the game in the NHL and the players they signed. I'm still undersized, I'm 5-9, but there are guys that play the game in the NHL that are 5-9. But 15 years ago that wasn't really the case. There were a handful of guys."

Bailen did get a taste of professional hockey at the end of his senior season, signing with the Rochester Americans in the AHL. He managed three assists in his nine regular-season games and went scoreless in the three playoff contests.

However, Rochester and the rest of North America did not give him a chance to prove himself and he went across the pond to make a name for himself in Europe.

"Looking back now, I always knew I was going to go to Europe," Bailen said. "I just didn't know if I was going to based on opportunities. When this opportunity came to go to Finland, I was like let's just do it and see where it goes."

Where it went was about as good as anyone could imagine.

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Without the championship Bailen already has put together an incredible career overseas, but it just becomes the cherry on top. In each of his 13 seasons across leagues in Finland, Sweden, Russia, Germany and Austria, Bailen has stood out on every team while receiving recognition as Defenseman of the Year twice.

"When you get older you see the game in a different lens," Bailen said about his success. "I have slowed down in my top speed and skating ability, but when that slows the game itself slows down, too. You draw on past experiences. When you lose a game or have a bad shift I don't stress as much as when I was younger. I am able to bounce back and just focus on the next moment."

Injury provided the opportunity for Bailen at Tappara and he finished the season at nearly a point-per-game pace with a nod to the all-star game, ultimately scoring 11 goals and 21 assists in 54 regular-season games, then four goals and eight assists for 12 points in 17 playoff games.

Success in Finland allowed for a move to Europe's top league with Dinamo Minsk in the Kontinental Hockey League.

"I didn't envision it," Bailen said about his career success. "It kind of just happened on its own, and then I went to Russia after that and I knew I could play the game. I was making really good money in a really good league, so I focused on it and jumped into a lot of success again."

There he became an all-star in his first season after 11 goals and 26 assists for 37 points in 60 games. He had three strong seasons with the club and finished his last year on a transfer to Vaxjo Lakers in the Swedish Hockey League where he collected four goals and 10 assists for 14 points in 20 games.

Instead of sticking in Sweden, Bailen went back to Russia and solidified himself as one of the greatest Americans to ever play in the league, starting with Traktor Chelyabinsk.

Bailen's move to Chelyabinsk in the Ural District of Russia immediately became a success as he began the first of five years with the club, scoring 11 goals and 19 assists for 30 points in 56 games before reaching the conference finals in the playoffs, scoring three goals and seven assists for 10 points in 16 games.

"I know I can play the game at high levels in Europe," Bailen said. "I see the game in a way I think a lot of players in Europe don't see the game with creating offensive chances with the puck. That has led to me having a lot of personal success and just trying to help the teams where I go with that style. It's just crazy to look over the course of a 14-year career that I have done well in every league I have been to."

However, Bailen found his best hockey after he turned 30 and that was highlighted by winning consecutive Defenseman of the Year awards between Traktor in the KHL and then Kolner Haie in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

"Normally, a lot of guys in the NHL retire between 32 and 34," Bailen said about getting better with age. "I think it's different for me because I went to Europe straight away. Those early years of grinding in the American Hockey League with preseason and postseason, playing 100 games kind of wears on your body. I didn't have that in my career and I think going to Europe straight away added a couple years of life to my career. Finland, Sweden, Germany and Austria are like 50-60 games a season and Russia was like 60-70, depending on the year. I think I just hit my 700th pro game this past year where if I was in North America for this many years it would be over 1,000 by now."

In his best season in Russia, Bailen scored six goals and 36 assists for 42 points in 49 games, then provided another four goals and four assists for 8 points in 15 playoff games. He scored the most points as a defender that year, netted the most game-winning goals as a defender that year and had the most assists at defense to get recognized as the league's top defenseman.

Bailen became the second American to win the award in the KHL, but left after the season as many did with the outbreak of the war in the Ukraine.

His success continued with Kolner Haie in the DEL, scoring 19 goals and 26 assists for 45 points in 56 games then added another goal and four assists for 5 points in six playoff games. Bailen became the second American to win Defenseman of the Year in the DEL and put together 1.5 more seasons before making the final move to Austria with the Gra99erz.

"Every league in Europe is definitely different with style of play, travel, coaching style, coaching habits, playing and player habits," Bailen stated. "When I went from the American League to Finland they were similar in style of play, then going from Finland to Russia was an entirely different ballgame in terms of style of play. Russia was less physical and more puck control. It was more about being structured as a five-man unit all over the ice. Going from Russia to Germany was a huge adjustment. It actually took me a while to make the adjustment. It took me about 10-15 games. It was more North American style, more American League and back to Finnish style where it was about playing a more structured game. The German league was probably the most physical league in Europe in terms of contact. That was an adjustment coming from Russia. Then Austria I would say is more of a mix between Russian and Finnish hockey. It's very five-man structured and a lot more plays being made off offensive abilities. The Austrian and Russian league fit my style better."

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In his first full season with the Gra99erz, Bailen was able to win the championship as he torched the league with 11 goals and 39 assists for 50 points in 39 games and then a perfect postseason run as the Gra99erz went 12-0 and he scored two goals and 10 assists in 10 games played.

"It would have been cool to win at home, but it doesn't matter you won, you won," Bailen said about winning the championship on the road. "My wife, along with 85% of the wives and girlfriends, were able to make the trip, so it was fun to be able to celebrate with them out on the ice and in the locker room afterwards. We have a lot of pictures that we will be able to remember. It was a cool experience."

The elusive championship in Bailen's career was finally won and it was done at a club where his wife Shelby was able to play for the women's team.

"She played mainly home games and a handful of away games," Bailen said about his wife Shelby playing for the Graz99ers women's team. "It was hard for her and me to play with games falling on the same day. She had fun, she played in Germany when we were in Kolner for a half a year and that was fun for her to get back into it. This year they asked her if she wanted to do it again so she said why not. It was cool because the girls got to see mom play too and I think it's really helped them want to play the sport more instead of just seeing dad do it."

Just because he added the championship does not mean his career is done as Bailen finalized a move to play for the Vienna Capitals next season.

"It used to be the creme de la creme in the league," Bailen said about the Vienna Capitals. "The city itself is beautiful, it's the biggest arena for spectators in Austria. Last year and the year before were kind of building blocks for them with a new direction and the decision to go there and a big part of it was to be in a bigger city. ... Them as a club they want to continue to move forward and push to be a better team again and move up in the standings. They made a lot of good signings this past summer, that team has a forward trajectory."

Before Bailen eventually hangs up the skates and comes back home he will have some more time to add to his already impressive resume in the capital of Austria as it hopes to build a winner.

"It's been a fun experience for myself and my wife and children to live in another country," Balien said about Austria. "It's a good experience and a fun time. It's a beautiful country with beautiful scenery and it's a family-oriented country with a lot of little small things that with being North American you would probably never experience. It's nice to be able to walk everywhere, we barely ever drive and take the train everywhere, it's pretty nice for the living aspect."

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