Gary Bettman does Ice Bucket Challenge, in all his bare-legged glory (Video)

It’s hard to quantify how many times hockey fans have wanted to douse NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman with a bucket of cold water. Or hot water. Or any number of other substances. But on Thursday, the commish did the drenching himself, in the name of charity.

Bettman became yet another hockey personality to take on the Ice Bucket Challenge, the viral video sensation that has helped create a groundswell of awareness and financial support for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis research.

He took on the challenge after being called out by, among others, Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs. And what a relief that he only wanted Bettman to pour cold water on himself! Last time he asked Gary to do his bidding, we lost half a season …

Here’s the glorious video of Gary Bettman dumping a substance whose temperature matches the blood flowing through his body:

Wow ... last time we saw Bettman take a bath like that, it ended with the Coyotes staying in Glendale...

OK, let talk fashion here for a second.

Bettman took on the challenge wearing a Winter Classic hoodie and rocking shorts. This was notable because (a) it’s the first time we’ve seen him in something other than a collared shirt and (b) he apparently has skin on his legs. We just assumed he was born wearing tailored suit pants.

He also took on the challenge wearing sunglasses: a bold, if ultimately foolhardy, choice.

Bettman subsequently challenged Brian Burke, Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake, all of whom are familiar with head shots, having worked in NHL player safety.

(We also suspect this was a sneaky way to get Burke to wash his hair for the first time in several months.)

Kudos to you, Mr. Bettman, for taking on the challenge. We are a little disappointed you didn’t challenge Donald Fehr to the Ice Bucket Challenge. Although that would have resulted in a 14-hour long video in which Fehr described the history of water dumping as it related in U.S. labor laws, before making his brother actually take the bucket.