It is a tradition believed to have started in the 1970s. As the NHL playoffs begin, many players solemnly set aside the shaving kit and lock up the Old Spice, vowing to go unshaven for the duration of their Stanley Cup run.

Playoff beards come and go (obviously), but some are immortalized in history. Think of Ray Bourque's grizzled salt-and-pepper pelt, which threatened to swallow his face by the time Colorado wrapped up the championship last June. As he thrust the Stanley Cup overhead, one might have thought hockey's greatest prize had been awarded to a half-mad old sea captain.

The tradition occasionally gives way to a fleeting trend. Two years ago several Detroit Red Wings dyed their hair platinum blonde for the playoffs, only to see the team dispatched in the second round. No sign of bottle blondes in Hockeytown since, but it's a popular look in the junior leagues (beards being a non-starter on teams where some guys are still waiting for their voices to break).

These days, with young men everywhere sporting goatees, the playoff beard is as popular as ever. The Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League even took it to the community this year, urging fans - male ones, presumably - to sprout whiskers in support of the team's playoff run. The Crunch made it to the Conference semi-finals. No word on how many put down their razors in solidarity.

2002 Top 5 Stanley Cup Beards

1. Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues: Team Canada's fair-haired boy is morphing into one of the guys in ZZ Top.

2. Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators: The team captain was never meant to have a beard - it's more like a face full of lint - but he leads by example: Ottawa is this spring's hairiest contender. With his patchy red fuzz the Swedish star takes on a rather Scottish air.

3. Shayne Corson, Toronto Maple Leafs: Motley, wild man look is a perfect fit for one of the Leafs' most bellicose forwards.

4. Erik Cole, Carolina Hurricanes: A full face-rug helps the Carolina rookie project a more mature, battle-scarred image.

5. Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens: The tradition has never meant more to a player than it means to Koivu this year. He hasn't shaved since April, when he returned to the Canadiens' lineup after fighting abdominal cancer. "I didn't have any hair anywhere for almost seven months," Koivu told Canada's The Sports Network. "So now finally I've got some hair, I'm gonna keep it."

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