A piece of Joe Thornton’s beard is going to live forever

At some point, Joe Thornton has to be thinking “I’m too old for this sh*t” when opponents try to fight him. But even at 38-years-old, Jumbo Joe can still hold his own, as evidenced by a fight last night with Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Nazem Kadri.

Jumbo may have been able to bring Kadri down to the ice and win the fight, but he lost something else in return. In a moment of confusion or desperation, Kadri wound up with a fistful of Thornton’s infamous “lifestyle beard.”

Thornton and Brent Burns have been growing out their facial hair since the 2015-16 season that saw them reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time ever. While many players partake in the superstition of not shaving during playoffs, Burns and Thornton had no plans of ditching the beards after their defeat in the Final. They made it clear right away that the beards were here to stay.

This past summer, they even posed for the Body Issue of ESPN The Magazine, stripping down to just the beards. Jumbo talked about the struggle of life with the beard:

We have a guy who comes to the house and maintains it for us with a cut and a trim every three months or so. You just have to constantly look to make sure there isn’t s--- in this kind of beard. Not even just food crumbs, I mean, like, random stuff. Last week I went to get the dog groomed. Simple, right? There was a tree outside the place, and the wind blew and the pollen came down. I go inside and the groomer goes, “Hey, you got something in your beard.” I run my hand through it and my buddy goes, “Nope, you still have a ton of s--- in your beard.” But I just feel comfortable in a beard.

The clump of beard hair found its way from the ice to the glove of goaltender Aaron Dell. The Sharks training staff then preserved it forever in a plastic sandwich bag. God bless.

To commemorate this moment in Sharks history, our friends at BreakingT have created a shirt that is available for purchase. Check it out below and purchase here!