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with Google  Devils resumed Islanders' playoff beard tradition
Sunday, 10.25.2009 / 8:00 PM / Superstitions in the NHL  By John
McGourty - Staff Writer  "I thought it was a good look for the
playoffs, my grey beard and no teeth. I was the poster boy for
that kind of look. When I retired, I cleaned up and got some
dental implants. You didn't think I was going to walk around
looking like that for the rest of my life, did you? I've got no
problem admitting it -- I was getting pretty gruesome looking."
-- Ex-Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko  Younger NHL fans who have
grown accustomed to bearded Stanley Cup Playoffs contestants can
look back more than 25 years and see the New York Islanders were
mostly bearded during their four consecutive Stanley Cup-winning
seasons from 1980-83. But did the Islanders start a tradition, a
superstition, or were they merely an oddity of their era?  While
the Islanders of the 1980s generally are credited with starting
the pr