ST. LOUIS - It’s time to say goodbye to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Family and friends across St. Louis are rejoicing as superstitious fans shed the facial hair grown over the last several weeks.
“Yeah, I think most people understand that you get a little gnarly during the playoffs,” said John Bick who grew a beard as the St. Louis Blues chased the cup. “Especially a deep run like this that goes a couple of months.”
Six weeks later and Joey O’Farrell is ready to shave his face smooth. “So this is my playoff beard. It’s not a great playoff beard. But it’s all I’ve got.”
“Yeah, my girlfriend Katie Williams is very happy I’m here today,” said O’Farrell as he sat in a barber’s chair at Union Barbershop in St. Louis.
“I think the story is it started with the Islanders back in the 70’s, is that right,” asked Bick while waiting a barber to cut shape his beard. “Growing out the beards for the Stanley Cup run and of course it won. So, in the hockey world it became a thing. Don’t shave during the playoffs.”
If fortune favors facial hair, St. Louis Blues fans really helped to seal the deal. From a game seven watch party inside the Enterprise Center, a sea of bearded fans watched the Blues win their first-ever Stanley Cup.
Wednesday night, goal after glorious goal, boiled down to beautiful beards?
“Sure! Yeah,” laughed Bick. “Maybe not completely the beard. Obviously my growing facial hair has nothing to do with players and off-season training and things they go through without the year.”
But, “it’s a way to participate, right?”
Which is why Jessica Bardot supported her husband’s transformation by sharing before and after photos on Twitter.
And connection to the team is why Brad Range tweeted these awesome photos before and after his team met Lord Stanley.
“One thing that hockey has over everything,” said O’Farrell, are playoff beards. Seasonal facial hair that continues to serve as a Stanley Cup superstition. The reason why some St. Louis super fans are smiling one day after a historic win.
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