Broke the glass, is it required?

Hey Guys,

I've tried searching with google and youtube but I'm not sure of the answer. I dropped my phone and the glass covering the screen shattered. The glass is still flat and the phone can still be used but the cracks in the glass are distracting. Does anyone know if there would be any functionality lost if I were to simply remove the glass and place a thick screen cover over the screen itself? I'd prefer not to pay $65 for new glass, since I'd sooner pay the difference and get a droid x which I don't really want to spend the money on.

I noticed a plug in a photo that connects the notification LED and another plug on the other side of the earpiece. I can probably keep the top of the glass (w/ the notification led and other plug) connected and just use a knife to remove the rest, applying a screen cover to the exposed touch screen. Does anyone know if this would work or if the glass has another function such as touch sensitivity?