Why We Love The Playoff Beard

By Jake Fox
Love of Sports Correspondent

Forrest Gump’s momma always said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

As with most things in life, there are few certainties when it comes to the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, one thing you’re sure to see this time of year is the playoff beard.

In a tradition believed to date back to the New York Islanders of the 1980s, hockey’s postseason brings the growth of uninhibited facial hair. The majority of players – either believing in superstition or tradition – do not shave for the duration of their team’s playoff run.

It’s not going out on a limb (well, maybe it is) to say the hockey beard has become as synonymous with the NHL Playoffs as the Stanley Cup itself. Nevertheless, the beards have gained a following all their own. There are even websites dedicated specifically to them; one such site is appropriately named playoffbeard.com.

Why is there such a fascination with this itchy ritual? Most fans are amazed at what these grown men will do in attempt to gain any advantage, albeit dubious, to win. The playoff beard seems like more of an obligation than something the players want to do.

Nevertheless, they dream of going two months without shaving, at which point they’ll have won the Cup and will have a celebratory picture taken with it, for eternity, with each player looking like Grizzly Adams himself. After all the champagne sipping is over, the next thing the players want to do is shave and return from their previously cavemanned state.

Along with being in awe of these athletes’ dedication, most male fans have to be a bit jealous of the playoff beard as well. There’s some envy from the everyday working professional that anyone’s employees are allowed to grow their facial hair unattended.

Every man who wakes up a little earlier than he’d like in order to shave before work has to shake his head and wish he could convince his boss that an untamed beard would help him do his job better.

Some players choose not to grow beards, and others may just be too young to do so, a la 20-year-old Sidney Crosby. There are also those who cut or trim their beards after a loss in an effort to change their team’s luck. But most playoff participants grow it unaltered until their team is eliminated.

The greatest thing about the playoff beard is that it’s become so renowned that loyal fans have begun growing them along with the players!

To all of this, Forrest Gump might say, “The NHL playoffs and the beard go together like peas and carrots.”

And that’s all I have to say about that.