Playoff hockey is exciting. It's intense. It's exhausting. And it's riddled with superstition and ritual.

Hockey players are notorious for being a superstitious lot, never more so than during the post-season. Look no further than a player's face, which is usually covered in the shaggy, unkempt mess of a "playoff beard."

If you follow the legend, the practice of growing a playoff beard began with the New York Islanders, who opted not to shave their beards during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Whether the beards had anything to do with the Islanders' four straight championships between 1980-83 is up for debate.

The tradition had fallen out of practice until the mid-90s, when the New Jersey Devils went unshaven throughout their run to the Cup in 1995.

Since then, it seems everyone ditches the blade for a few weeks – including members of the Milwaukee Admirals, who open the West Division Finals tonight against Houston at the Bradley Center.

Kelsey Wilson says there are two ways to go about the playoff beard: either let it go crazy, or come up with something ridiculous. He's chosen the latter.

"I'm going the crazy route," Wilson says. "I'm going to keep the handlebars until we lose out. Before every series, I'll trim up the rest of the face."

It's a look that has worked well for another successful local athlete.

"I might get the 'Johnny Axford' going here a little bit," Wilson says. "I never met the guy but I like his mustache."

Of course, on a minor league team like the Admirals, there are a few young players who are, for lack of a better phrase, "follically challenged."

"We've got some guys who can probably rub some cream on their face and let a cat lick off their peach fuzz," Scott Ford says. "We've got a youthful team and although they're lacking facial hair, they're not lacking passion and will to play."

Ford doesn't claim to being overly superstitious though he admits he teammates have their own things going.

"Some guys get prepared in different ways and need to be superstitious and other guys just kind of fly by the seat of their pants and do things differently," Ford says. "It's a matter of finding what's best for you and whatever works just works."

Ford likes to get out on the ice in the morning, be it for an optional skate or a team workout to get loose on game days. Skating and passing drills, a relaxing afternoon with some television and a nap help him get focused for a game.

"If you have a routine you go through most of the time, it's easier for you to get prepared," Ford says. "Everything kind of falls into place naturally and you get prepared that way."

Head coach Lane Lambert admits he was pretty superstitious during his playing days but says he's toned things down a bit now that he's behind the bench. Still, the man who regularly laced his skates the same way before every game, tends to stick to a few basic rituals like keeping the same cough drops on his desk and following the same route to work on game days.

"It's more of a routine now than anything," Lambert says with the slightest of grins.

The superstitions extend past the rink and locker room, too. In the front office, team president Jon Greenberg needed a slight adjustment period when he joined the Admirals following a lengthy career in baseball.

Under the guidance of longtime Admirals VP of Business Development, Mike Wojciechowski, Greenberg learned valuable lessons in avoiding the wrath of the "Hockey Gods;" a supernatural group that punishes those who don't practice caution and humility.

"I never heard of it before I got to hockey," Greenberg says. "During my first year, I kept saying certain things and he would look at me like I had seven heads ... I've learned over the years to speak more hypothetically; a lot of 'if's' 'what-if's' and 'if we should's'."

Five years into his tenure as president, Greenberg doesn't have a lot of superstitions, but he does follow one very important cardinal rule: no touching a trophy until the final trophy has been won.

The Admirals have already received trophies for winning the regular season West Division and Western Conference titles. When presented, Greenberg and players posed with the trophies while keeping their distance. Should Milwaukee win its series with Houston, another trophy will come to town and get the same treatment.

It's nothing personal, Greenberg says.

"The only trophy I have any intention of touching is the Calder Cup," Greenberg says. "Should we get to that point, then I'll be happy to hold all of them."

On the surface, playoff beards, pre-game rituals and routines are harmless fun that haven't been scientifically proven to produce the desired results. However, they can go a long way to mentally preparing a player for an upcoming game.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor and applied sports psychologist Dr. Barbera Meyer says there is a big difference between superstition and routine but both behaviors are all about control.

"They both come from the same place," Meyer says. "It's about getting a sense of control of something that is very uncontrollable."

Growing a playoff beard probably does little to impact a player's performance. Meyer sees little wrong with the practices, but encourages her clients to pay closer attention to pre-performance routines, which she says can go a long way to bringing success.

Even something as disgusting as wearing the same underwear.

"The right type of undergarment can often help with things like cramps and perspiration," Meyer says.

Whatever it is a player does to get prepared, it's all about preparation. Preparation and control have much more of an impact on success than some shaggy facial hair, a particular meal or lacing your skate a certain way.

"Athletes should be comfortable," Meyer says. "But they should be spending time and energy on things that won't help them prepare for the task at hand."

Try telling that to the "Hockey Gods."