Joe Thornton's Beard is The Big Loser of a Hockey Fight

((Screengrab/Twitter--@cjzero))

Look at the bottom left part of the photo here. You likely see something there which looks an awful lot like a dust bunny.

It isn't.....

The beginning of Thursday nights San Jose Sharks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs game was slated to begin with a face-off but ended up starting with a fight between the two players in the circle.

For reasons never quite made clear Sharks Center Joe Thornton and Leafs Center Nazem Kadri got really chippy before the puck dropped. As soon as the puck hit the ground--the two men started fighting.

Kadri lunged towards Thornton, grabbing his rather um, robust beard. And he came away with a full-on handful of scruff....which summarily got tossed away while the referee tried to separate them.

Yeah, it's as funny as it looks and you and I both think it is.....Thornton's beard was carefully removed and brought to the Sharks bench where his teammates got a HUGE laugh over it....

If you've read this far---this is what Thornton's beard looked like after the game...revel in it's um....grandeur??