Eddie Shore, George Owen, and Lionel Hitchman, 1928-1929 (photo courtesy of Boston Public Library and Katie Notopoulos)

Any hockey fan knows that players weren’t always required to wear helmets, in fact, it wasn’t until 1979 that it became mandatory for them to be worn.  Hockey was first played in the United States in 1896, that means for 85 years players took the ice for sixty minutes with no helmets.  One would think that playing without a helmet would mess up a player’s hair-do and make them look, well, sloppy. However, the Boston Bruins knew how to be stylish. Take a look at a couple of these pictures from the 1936 team:

Jack Riley, Happy Harnett, Bob Blake, and Phil Besler (photo courtesy of Boston Public Library and Katie Notopoulos)

Goalie Tiny Thompson (Photo Courtesy of Boston Public Library)

Ridiculous how they are able to keep their hair that great right? Now our best dressed Bostonian is. . . Brad Marchand?

Well, at least he can clean up nice?

Top 25 Best Dressed of 2011 (Photo Courtesy of days of yorr)