The girl who isn’t shaving her legs until NHL lockout ends

Many hockey fans have held their own personal protests during the NHL lockout. Maybe it’s refusing to wear your team’s jersey during the work stoppage, or swearing off purchasing anything NHL-related.

Maggie Wagner has been holding her own lockout protest. And it’s a hair-raising scheme.

Wagner, 17, is a Pittsburgh Penguins fan from Xenia, Ohio. When the lockout seemed inevitable back in September, she started to wonder what small personal protest she could offer against the NHL shutting its doors. So on 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 15, Wagner vowed not to shave her legs until the players and owners cut a deal.

We caught up with Wagner and discussed her hirsute howl against the lockout:

Why did you start this mission?

WAGNER: “I wanted to do something to make everyone around me suffer through the lockout with me. I just decided to not shave my leg hair because Paul Bissonnette tweeted something about growing a lockout beard, which I obviously can't do.”

Apologies if you've already addressed this, but this is some kind of feminist spin on a playoff beard right?

“It's fine, and yes, you can call it that!”

I saw on your feed you want to raise lockout awareness with this protest; how so?

“Where I live hockey is just not a thing. People don't watch it, they don't even think about it. So one of my goals was to get the people around me, however they reacted to my leg hair, to ask me about hockey, and the lockout.

“None of them knew what a lockout was before this. Now they know. I decided I wanted people all around the world on Twitter to see my leg hair and realize that it is as ridiculous as this lockout.”

What has the reaction been like from friends and family?

“Reaction from basically everyone is disgust, humor, and support. Everyone at school asks to see my legs and they want to take pictures. My family asks me every day if I am going to shave it now. But I made a promise, and I'm not shaving it until a deal is done and the lockout ends.”

Have you gotten any reaction from NHL players or the NHL over social media?

“Before today, nothing. But I did get re-tweets from Mike Fisher, Dustin Penner, and Beau Bennett tonight. Penner suggested that I wear pants on New Years so I could still have a good time.”

Have there been moments during the lockout when you thought you'd be close to shaving it?

“From the point of my mental sturdiness, never. I love not shaving, it cuts my shower time in half!

“But from the point of view of talks, there were a few times. During early meetings I was really confident that the lockout wouldn't last long. I try to keep my hopes down though. And when there were the owner/ player only meetings earlier in the month. I thought those were going to be promising.”

Finally, if the season's cancelled, will you consider shaving, portioning and sending the clippings to both Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr?

“I will consider shaving the thickest part of my leg hair and sending it to both of them in the event of a cancelled season, yes. I'd have to get their address though!”

Embarrassing sports moments of 2012 from the Yahoo! Sports Minute:

Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
• Video: Why Vikings RB Adrian Peterson plans to purchase a gun
• Epilepsy won't sideline Minnesota's Jerry Kill
• Y! News video: Shark tank bursts open in shopping mall