What's in a beard?

So you may have noticed that the men of the NHL are getting mighty hairy these days. What's going on? Well, the playoffs are in session, and that means hockey players are growing their beards, with varying degrees of success.

This tradition started back in the 1980s when the New York Islanders - then the most dominant team in the NHL - grew their beards during the playoffs.

Athletes are a superstitious bunch, and the belief is that shaving could bring about the wrath of the hockey gods and lead to an early exit from the post-season. Changing anything when you're winning is dangerous, and some players have taken it to extremes by wearing the same underwear for long stretches of time, but that's a story for another day.



Now that we're 3 weeks deep into the playoffs some of those beards are getting pretty wild. Todd Bertuzzi is one guy who grows a mean playoff beard.

.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo also has a nice thicket going.

Other players, like Sidney Crosby, are known more for their weak beard-growing abilities. He takes a lot of teasing for his patchy, fuzzy beard, but the guy's only 22, so it remains to be seen if his beard will catch up to his talent in the years ahead.

Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks was so mercilessly teased about his beard in last year's playoffs (he was only 20 at the time) that he's decided to take a different route this time around. Rather than the traditional beard, he's opting to grow out his mullet. Yes, I'm scared too.

"Business in the front, party in the back," Kane said. "I'll kinda look a little trashy for a little bit, but it's fun and the boys all got a good laugh out of it."

You may notice your boyfriend or husband getting pretty scruffy as well. Some men use the playoffs as their own personal excuse for lax grooming.

Don't try to get him to shave it, you'll just be setting yourself up to be blamed if his team loses. Accept his cries of "SOLIDARITY" and know it will all be over soon.