While November mustaches are common inside the hockey world, those outside of it may have questions as to why Rust is rocking such a look, which is the point of it all.
“First of all, have you seen this thing? That’s the key,” Rust grinned. “If people do ask about it, I just try and bring up Movember, and then from there, they can do their own research and keep thinking about it.”
He then added with a laugh, “Then they see this ugly mug again on the TV during games and stuff, so I think it’s just getting people thinking about it. Because I’ve been doing it for so long, hopefully, it can be synonymous with the whole movement and raising awareness and money and all that stuff.”
His dad Steve battled prostate cancer in the past, and he is the original inspiration for Bryan’s participation in Movember. “He loves the mustache. My mom, not so much,” Bryan grinned. “But she knows it’s for a good cause.”
This year, Rust is Pittsburgh’s captain for the Movember Moustache Cup, a month-long fundraising challenge that ends tomorrow. He is one of eight Penguins who grew mustaches over these past four weeks as part of the movement, joining Sidney Crosby, Erik Karlsson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Rickard Rakell, P.O Joseph, Jeff Carter, and Matt Nieto.
People may have noticed that Nieto actually has his mustache year-round, which was a decision he made at the end of last November.
“I always grow it out for Movember. I did last year. At the end, I shaved it off, and I didn’t like what I saw in the mirror. So, had to grow it back and keep it,” Nieto joked (don’t worry, we laughed about how in text, that quote would make it sound like he was having an existential crisis. He is not.)
Rust says that for him, Nieto is at the top of the list. “He’s got his grooming schedule down. His is probably the best-looking, best-groomed, most realistic,” Rust said. They both like Joseph’s, and Nieto added, “Sid’s is coming in nice as we’re winding down for the month.”
For anyone reading this who has a favorite, you can support that player by donating to his fundraising page. **Vote for your favorite Penguins mustache here**.
FINAL PRACTICE OF NOVEMBER
The Penguins skated at Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday afternoon before flying to Tampa, where they will face the Lightning on Thursday to close out their two-game road trip.
P.O Joseph, who has missed the last 11 games with a nagging lower-body injury, skated on an extra D-pair with Dmitri Samorukov. Apart from that, the Penguins stuck with the same workflow they used against Nashville, with Drew O’Connor staying on the second line in the spot usually occupied by the injured Rickard Rakell.
“We had OC with Sid and Jake there for a while when Rusty was out, and he was a great puck-pursuit guy for those guys,” Sullivan said. “We move him with Geno and Reilly, and he'll bring that same dimension, that same element to those guys. We're hoping maybe OC can help Geno's line develop and create more of a down-low game where they have a little bit more offensive zone time to give themselves a chance to create offense different ways, not just necessarily off the rush.”
Here are the lines and D-pairs…
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Smith-Malkin-O’Connor
Harkins-Eller-Zohorna
Nieto-Acciari-Carter
Graves-Letang
Pettersson-Karlsson
Shea-Ludvig
The Penguins have been tinkering with their power-play personnel as the group is stuck in a 1-for-27 slump dating back to Nov. 7 in Anaheim. The first unit of Karlsson, Crosby, Malkin, Guentzel and Rust stayed the same. Lars Eller slotted onto the second power-play unit with Letang, Smith, Carter, and Harkins.
The Penguins haven’t used him on the man advantage to this point, as they’re trying to manage workloads, and Eller is a big part of Pittsburgh’s penalty kill. But since the veteran forward has an offensive dimension to his game, and has played on the power play in the past, the Penguins thought they would try him there.
"I think I can bring a little bit of everything – distributor, try to shoot, and hopefully, help with their recoveries. Get set and get some zone time, get some looks," Eller said.
