Penn State men’s hockey is off to a great start to the 2018-19 season, but if you follow the team’s social media accounts, you’ll know about the intense off-ice competition between some of the players that broke out last month.

November turned into “Movember” for a few Nittany Lions who chose to abandon their razors and shaving cream to grow their best facial hair. Among the participants were Evan Barratt and Alex Limoges — college hockey’s top two point scorers this season — and two-time defending champion Chris Funkey.

Unlike last year, fans voted on the winner of the tournament on the team’s Instagram story. Funkey took the crown last year against an admittedly weaker field, but he was unable to defend his crown this time.

When the tournament field was trimmed to the final two players, a pair of upperclassmen — junior Liam Folkes and senior Ludvig Larsson — emerged from the pack. Making the final round was definitely an impressive feat, especially considering the strength of the rest of the field.

Sam Sternschein, Paul DeNaples, and Blake Gober all rocked strong lip sweaters, while Funkey and fellow goaltender Peyton Jones elected to go with more-than-respectable goatees. 

Larsson emerged victorious at the end of the tournament in a tight race to become the first player not named Chris Funkey to win the team’s competition.

Despite Folkes’ best effort, his teammates weren’t necessarily shocked at the result.

“I think Luda deserved to win,” defenseman Cole Hults said. “His [facial hair] kind of stuck out right from the start.”

“It probably was the right decision in the end,” forward Alex Limoges said. “I voted for my linemate [Folkes], but Ludvig can just grow facial hair. It was fun to see him go through the different stages with a goatee, then handlebars, and then a mustache.”

Limoges participated in Movember, but he had to withdraw due to a critical error while grooming his mustache.

He tried to trim it slightly, but ended up taking a chunk out of hair off of his upper lip instead. The error forced him to go with a blonde, pencil-thin look, so he ended up withdrawing his name from consideration.

We’ll never know if Limoges had what it takes to win the competition because of his error, but fortunately for the Nittany Lions, he has a bit more skill with a hockey stick in his hands than a razor. He leads the nation with 17 assists in 15 games played so far this season.