Dec
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Defenseman Karl Alzner rocking his mo' during Tuesday's practice.
The month of Movember may have officially come to a close, but that hasn’t stopped some members of the Washington Capitals from hanging on to their mustaches for the time being. The players originally grew the staches as part of a month-long charity drive to raise funds to fight prostate cancer.
But now that the month is over some of the Caps seems reluctant to part with a look that has been associated with a November that has ended with the team leading the NHL in wins.
“I kind of like it right now,” said forward Matt Hendricks. “My wife doesn’t want it. She wants it gone. I don’t know, she might have to suck it up for the team. It’s been somewhat of a luck charm, if you believe in luck,” he said.
The 29 year-old Minnesota native isn’t categorically saying it’s going to stay. “Bed bugs, if we get them on the road this week [I will shave]. Don’t want bed bugs living in there.”
Not all the Caps are so enamored of their staches. Defenseman John Carlson recently shaved his stache before filming a new commercial. “You can’t really see mine anyway,” Carlson said. “You see a lot of other people, random people doing it. It’s a pretty cool thing.”
Chimera was pleased with the money he has raised from the mustache but wasn’t as pleased with the facial hair itself. “I’d get food caught in there,” he said. “It’s not the cleanest thing.”
Given the Caps success some fans have urged that the staches stay through the Winter Classic. None of the Caps seem prepared to make that commitment just yet. But some were willing to join Hendricks in toughing it out–for now. The Caps have been invited to a Movember charity event at the British Embassy on Friday and several players promised to keep the mustaches until then.
“Whether it stays any longer [than Friday] is to be determined,” said John Erskine. “Most of the fans are already saying it got to stay but they’re not the one wearing it.”
Karl Alzner, who like Erskine is sporting a handle bar mo’, also indicated that he was getting a bit tired of the ‘stache. “I’m sick of it now,” said Alzner. “It’s starting to itch a little bit and it’s just not me, I’m not a mustache guy. I’d rather go back to just having the three day beard.”
Jeff Schultz said: “I have to keep it until Friday because of the British embassy invitation. But after that it’s coming off until next Movember. It’s been fun growing it and kind of seeing the different ones out there.”
The 24 year-old Canadian is determined to have one last laugh before the Caps ‘staches are no more. “We were thinking about dressing up and movie characters or something,” he said referring to embassy event. “You could so like Magnum P.I., or Burt Reynolds. Those are a couple that I’ve looked at. It would be good, have a few laughs at it.”
