“I didn’t want any guys with beards on the team. But one guy showed up with a beard. And then … you know … over the first couple of weeks of training … other guys start growing beards … until everyone had a beard. So I said, ‘Okay, guys. Here’s the rule. If you showed up with a beard, you can keep it. So Kenny – you’re okay. All the rest of you are wannabes. No more beards.”
— Herb Brooks (interviewed by Kurt Russell and Gavin O’Connor, star of and director of Miracle)
He could have called it the grandfather rule. Then maybe even the guy who showed up with the beard would have been happy to shave it off.