"Glancing at Blues defenseman Roman Polak, it's obvious there is no pattern to the hair growing on his cheeks and chin. "When I was at the Olympics, a couple of guys from Team USA told me that Roman had the worse facial hair in the league," Blues defenseman Erik Johnson said. "I'm not going to say whether I stuck up for him or not." Polak's patchy "beard" has attracted similar complaints inside the Blues' locker room. But don't count on him shaving it soon, because with the NHL regular season fast approaching, he claims it's part of his style. "I'm not a fancy guy, not a good-looking guy," said Polak, 24, who's entering his third full season with the Blues. "I look like what I'm doing ... hard worker, dirty job on the ice ... I look like that." It takes a lot more than bad facial hair, though, to be an intimidator in the NHL, and many will agree that Polak is one of the most physical defenders in the league, particularly in the corners. At 6 feet 2 and 225 pounds, he doled out 138 hits last season, 62 more than any other defenseman on the Blues' roster. For the second straight summer, Polak finished No. 1 on the club's fitness testing, which encompasses a variety of exercises measuring strength and endurance. He's been asked to stop at 315 pounds on the bench press just because he couldn't improve his score with any more weight added. "He could shave his whole body and he'd still be intimidating because of his size," teammate Cam Janssen said. "He's a freak. He's not only out-benching everybody, he's beating everybody in the sprint test and the (breathing) test. I don't know what they do where he lives, but I'm going to have to go over there and start training with him." Polak works out at home in the Czech Republic each offseason, returning to the gym about a month after the season ends. Judging by his physique, one would think he spends countless hours per day lifting weights, but Polak claims he's in and out in 60 minutes. "I'm going to spend one hour there, but it's going to be a hard hour," he said. "Lots of the guys I practice with, they laugh at me because I'm lifting lots of weights ... they ask me if I'm a hockey player or football player. I just say, 'It's my job, so I have to do it.'" A lifelong soccer player who has particularly strong legs, Polak said his muscle mass allows him to be a load for the opposition battling with him for puck possession." http://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/article_b98e1a46-141e-5ae1-9636-1e4273d74a09.html
