He will need all of the courage and character he developed in those confrontations in the corner of hockey rinks now, as he lies in a burn unit of an Ohio hospital and fights desperately for his life.
At the side of the former Mississauga Reps player for hours and hours every day is his wife Bethany, whose life has been totally changed since July 17 when a riding mower Baird was riding on his summer job with a Youngstown landscape company suddenly blew up.
No one knows what caused the explosion. Baird, 27, was rushed to hospital in critical condition, having sufffered burns to 70 per cent of his body.
Instead of moving themselves and their three young children from Youngstown to Muskegon, Michigan, where he had just signed with the Fury of the International Hockey League, the Bairds found themselves thrown into a world of beeping monitors, skin grafts, operations and prayer.
"He was engulfed in flames. The thoughts of it, I know, are horrific. I am still in shock every minute in this surreal day-to-day zombie state that I seem to be in," Bethany wrote a few days after the mishap in a blog she has started to share the family's experience with friends.
After Jason received seven skin grafts, started breathing on his own and recently spoke to her for the first time since the accident, his wife wrote: "My eyes were open to many things today. Things that have humbled me and made me thankful for not only my husband's life but my children and myself. This time in our life, yes has caused stress at times and is a daily emotional battle but at the end of the day, Jason is still alive.
"Anyone who has sustained the injury that Jason has, has either not lived or is now battling with many things they must learn to overcome. Jason is not missing a fingernail or an eyelash and he will eventually look back at this ... with only the scars as an attachment to the memory. The Lord truly has spared my husband."
Baird played three seasons with the Mississauga Reps AAA Hockey Club before four seasons with Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League, where the winger tallied 218 points in 245 games.
He then did a stint in the East Coast Hockey League before heading to the Central Hockey League, where he played for the Indianapolis Ice for a few seasons and Corpus Christi Rayz. He signed with Youngstown last year.
As a member of the Rayz, where he earned team MVP honours one season, he started Baird's Bunch, a not-for-profit group benefiting at-risk youths.
While he is receiving the best of care, Baird has no insurance coverage outside the regular hockey season and the medical bills the family faces could bankrupt them.
The Rayz and Otters have already held fundraisers to help the Bairds. Donations can be made at www.jasonbaird.ca.
Bethany Baird says her husband always wanted to be a hockey coach, and will be a good one if he recovers enough to have the chance.
"He'll be amazing," she told The Toronto Sun. "I can't imagine a better person you'd want your child to follow... he has a beautiful heart."
jstewart@mississauga.net
