ST. LOUIS – The Stanley Cup Playoffs are unlike anything else.

The passion, the excitement, and yes, the playoff beards.

In keeping with a great hockey tradition and supporting local charities, the St. Louis Blues again invite their fans to grow one for the team this playoff season.

The Blues Beard-a-thon® is an opportunity for fans to grow their own playoff beard and raise money for charity. Proceeds from the 2013 Blues Beard-a-thon® will benefit the Blues 14 Fund and The Joshua Chamberlain Society.



For more information or to enroll in the Blues Beard-a-thon, please log onto www.beardathon.com/blues

Participants in the Blues Beard-a-thon can invite family, friends, and business associates to pledge their playoff beards. By joining the Blues Beard-a-thon, fans pledge to maintain their beard as long as the Blues remain in the playoffs. Fans who are unwilling, or unable, to grow playoffs beards can also pledge their some of their favorite Blues players. Blues fans raised more than $41,000 for The Joshua Chamberlain Society in 2012 and hope to surpass that number this season.

The Blues and the Blues 14 Fund are proud to support the Joshua Chamberlain Society (JCS) through the Beard-a-thon program. The Joshua Chamberlain Society is a local organization that provides support to veterans in our area that have sustained permanent combat injuries.

“The Blues Beard-A-Thon is a fun way for the fans to participate in one of the greatest traditions in pro sports and raise money for two great causes at the same time,” said Blues COO Bruce Affleck. “The Blues and the Blues 14 Fund are once again proud to support the Joshua Chamberlain Society (JCS) through this great program. We look forward to continuing the success of the Blues Beard-a-thon, which last year raised more than $41,000 for these great charities.”

About Beard-a-thon®

Since 2009, Beard-a-thon® has raised more than $2 million for NHL team charities, and each year, some 7,000 fans, players and alumni sign up to grow in support of those worthy causes in their area.

About St. Louis Blues 14 Fund & The Joshua Chamberlain Society

The St. Louis Blues 14 Fund, charitable trust of the St. Louis Blues, is proud to support the Joshua Chamberlain Society through the Beard-a-thon program. The Blues 14 Fund was created in 1998 to honor former Blues player Doug Wickenheiser, No. 14, who passed away from a long battle with cancer in 1999. The Blues 14 Fund focuses on four areas of giving, which include cancer care and awareness, health and wellness, education and youth hockey development. Thanks to the members of the Blues family, including our fans, community partners, players, alumni and staff, the St. Louis Blues 14 Fund has contributed more than $3 million to the St. Louis community.

The Joshua Chamberlain Society ("JCS") is a grass roots, St. Louis-based charity that was formed with the mission of providing long term support to veterans from the greater St. Louis area that have sustained permanent combat injuries fighting for our nation. It also provides long term support to the children of local veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice in service. The unique mission of JCS is that it adopts, in the truest meaning of that word, veterans or the family of deceased veterans, and commits to provide support for the long term. Five, ten and 20 years after the serviceman or woman has suffered grievous and permanent injuries, the veteran or his family will know that the citizens of St. Louis still honor and recognize their enormous sacrifice for our freedoms. As their injuries or death is permanent, so is the support that JCS provides. This support is multi-faceted and comes in the form of gifts, tuition assistance, monetary donations, and the like--anything that JCS identifies as something that will improve the quality of life for these heroic Americans.

About Playoff Beards

A playoff beard is the superstitious practice of a hockey player not shaving his beard during the playoffs. The player stops shaving when his team enters the playoffs and does not shave until his team is either eliminated or wins the Stanley Cup. The tradition started in the 1980s by the New York Islanders.