CHICAGO — The man behind the popular Facebook page "Joel Quenneville's Mustache" sports a beard 24/7.
It "has basically been there since 2010. I like to tell myself that my beard is the reason for the recent few seasons of Hawks' success," said Christian Deme, 27, a recent Marquette University Law School graduate who runs the Facebook page devoted to the Chicago Blackhawks' head coach's facial hair.
The Blackhawks, who are in their fourth Western Conference final in six years, are seeking their third Stanley Cup since 2010 and second straight. They face the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night at the United Center after winning Game 1 of the best-of-seven series 3-1 on Sunday.
Deme's Facebook page is not affiliated with the similarly named "Quenneville's Stache" Twitter account launched by Chris Malcolm in 2010.
Justin Breen joins DNAinfo Radio to discuss the Blackhawks coach's parody page:
Deme, of Milwaukee and a University of Illinois graduate, started Joel Quenneville's Mustache as an "inside joke" and a way to "honor Q's majestic mustache and talk about hockey" in 2010, just before the Hawks' run to their fourth Stanley Cup championship.
The page now has more than 30,000 "likes."
"It's mind-boggling, to be honest," Deme said. "I had absolutely no intention of this becoming a 'community' when I first started the page. It was seriously just a place for a small group of us to light-heartedly chat about hockey. Then people just came out of nowhere and it became a small community of fans who light-heartedly chatted about hockey.
"Most of all, it really amazes me that there are so many people out there who have the patience to put up with my terrible jokes," Deme said.
Deme has never met Quenneville, who picked up his 700th career victory this year and is 706-410-77 in 17 NHL seasons as head coach.
Quenneville always seemed to sport a mustache, dating to his playing days as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies and Hartford Whalers.
The Facebook page gives nods to the 'stache and also shares hockey information from various NHL news sources.
"It is pretty awesome to be a place that people visit on the Internet to get news and talk about the team," Deme said. "Chatting with other hockey fans never gets old."
Deme is currently studying for the bar exam and "made it through all of law school without the page falling apart." But Deme noted he has a couple friends who help him post items if he's too busy with studying.
"Hopefully we can keep it going," Deme said.
