Nobody ever said hockey was pretty. A career of puck dodging can leave a player's face scarred, mutilated and otherwise disfigured.

After taking cranium blow after crushing cranium blow and check after maiming check, there's scarcely a hockey playin' man in town who hasn't suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous maxillo-facial misfortune.

In response to all the "Pretty Boys of the NHL" dedications littering cyberspace, we present to you the decidedly disturbing alternative:

For every hottie, there's a not-so-hottie.
For every hunk, there's a "Holy God! What is that?"

Here are the gruesome and grisly guys of the National Hockey League...

*WARNING: THE IMAGES YOU ARE ABOUT TO WITNESS ARE OF A GRAPHIC NATURE. THE DEPICTIONS MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS.