NHL Playoffs! Why Beards?

So why grow the beard?  Well, the tradition started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders, but no one really knows why.  Some say it just kind of happened playing four games in five nights and became a thing of unity for hockey teams.  Other's have said its a way to start thinking about the playoffs as soon as you wake up in the morning.  However, one thing is for sure.  And that is the fact that playoff beards have become a tradition of nhl playoffs and they are not going any where.  In fact In 2009, the Beard-a-thon campaign was launched to encourage fans to grow their own playoff beards for charity. Since then the "Beard-a-thon" has raised over one million dollars to NHL charities.