No splitting hairs over playoff tradition
NBC URGES CLEAN FACES: For players, growing a beard is as much about playing in spring as winning the Cup
Cedric Paquette’s beard is quite nasty.
Unkempt, unruly and itchy, it is not the sort of thing that he would normally grow during the hot of summer.
But ask him if he has thoughts about taking a razor to the tufts of black hair spread out across his cheeks and upper lip and the Tampa Bay Lightning forward looks at you to see if you are being serious.
“I’m happy to grow my beard,” he said. “We’re itchy right now, but a lot of hockey players aren’t playing right now.”
In other words, do not expect anyone to listen to NBC Sports chairman Mark Lazarus, who urged players to “stop growing their beards” in a story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune, so that fans could see their “young and attractive” faces.
“That’s not going to fly with us,” said Lightning defenceman Andrej Sustr. “It’s a tradition that we don’t want to mess with. Its part of the playoff culture. It would be tough to take that one back.”
The tradition of growing a beard for the playoffs supposedly began in the 1980s, when the New York Islanders went without shaving during their first Stanley Cup run. Since then, others have embraced what has become a team-bonding tactic as well as a source of pride.
The longer you advance in the playoffs, the longer your beard becomes. For some, the beard makes them completely unrecognizable. Others, meanwhile, have such a hard time growing anything more than peach fuzz that they probably wish they could go unnoticed.
“Worst? It’s got to be Teuvo,” Blackhawks goaltender Scott Darling said of 20-year-old rookie Teuvo Teravainen. “He’s got the (Justin) Bieber stache going. I said to Teuvo, ‘by the time you grow one, it’s going to be legal.’ ”
“Pork chops minus the pork,” is how Lightning defenceman Jason Garrison described Sustr’s attempt at a beard. “The guy looks like Wolverine when he was 10 years old.”
The jokes, said the players, are part of the fun. It does not matter if your beard is thick or thin, as long as you are trying.
“It’s part of our tradition and it’s something that even the uncommon hockey fan knows about the hockey playoffs,” Darling said.
“I think fans love it too,” said Blackhawks forward Marcus Kruger. “I don’t think that’s going to disappear.”
Traditions, however, could come at a cost. By concealing the players’ faces at a time when more eyeballs are on hockey than any other time of the year, Lazarus argued that beards “hurt recognition” among fans. Ultimately, that could affect endorsements.
“From a business standpoint, you can argue it one way,” said Darling. “But for us, we’re not too concerned about the dollars and cents of our facial hair. It’s just something we do and it’s a fun tradition.”