Teddy bear toss
Encyclopedia
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
season promotion at many minor and junior hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
arenas throughout North America. Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
s to the game, and to throw them onto the ice when the home team scores its first goal. The toys are then gathered up to be donated as Christmas presents to hospitals and charities. In many cases, the players themselves personally donate some of the bears to children at area hospitals. The tradition is said to have started in Kitchener, Ontario
Kitchener, Ontario
The City of Kitchener is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada. It was the Town of Berlin from 1854 until 1912 and the City of Berlin from 1912 until 1916. The city had a population of 204,668 in the Canada 2006 Census...
at Kitchener Rangers
Kitchener Rangers
The Kitchener Rangers are a major junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League that have called Kitchener, Ontario, Canada their home since 1963. The Rangers are a publicly owned hockey team, governed by a 40-person Board of Directors made up of season ticket subscribers. The Rangers hosted...
games.
The tradition is perhaps the most popular in the Western Hockey League
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada...
cities of Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
and Portland
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
.
Portland Winter Hawks
The Portland Winterhawks are a major junior ice hockey team based in Portland, Oregon, playing in the Western Hockey League, a member league in the Canadian Hockey League. They play their home games at the Memorial Coliseum, though typically a few games each season are also played in the...
were the first to break the WHL and CHL
Canadian Hockey League
The Canadian Hockey League is an umbrella organization that represents the three Canadian-based major junior ice hockey leagues for players 16 to 20 years of age. The CHL was founded in 1975 as the Canadian Major Junior Hockey League, and is composed of its three member leagues, the Western Hockey...
Teddy Bear Toss record in the 2006–07 season with an on-ice donation of 14,361 stuffed animals Saturday, November 25, 2006. The teddy bears rained down from the stands when Kyle Bailey broke a scoreless tie exactly one minute into the overtime period. This record was eventually broken by the fans of the Calgary Hitmen
Calgary Hitmen
The Calgary Hitmen are a major junior ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The Hitmen play in the Central Division of the Western Hockey League . They play their home games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Bret "The Hitman" Hart, a local-born professional wrestler, was a founding owner...
less than a month later. On December 10, when Ryan White scored a short-handed goal 14 minutes into the first period of their game against the Prince George Cougars
Prince George Cougars
The Prince George Cougars are a major junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League. The team is based in Prince George, British Columbia, and plays its home games at the CN Centre...
. 15,540 teddy bears were thrown onto the ice by the 16,380 fans in attendance.
On November 24, 2007, the Portland Winterhawks briefly reclaimed the record with 20,372 stuffed animals coming from the 6,343 fans at the Memorial Coliseum on the 10th Annual Teddy Bear Toss Night. However, fans had failed to realise that the goal that initiated the toss had been disallowed. The record quickly fell again, as six nights later, fans of the Lethbridge Hurricanes
Lethbridge Hurricanes
The Lethbridge Hurricanes are a junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the Western Hockey League in Lethbridge, Alberta. They play their home games at the ENMAX Centre.-History:...
set a new mark of 22,736 bears. The Hitmen once again reclaimed their record on December 2, 2007, as 26,919 bears hit the ice when Ian Duval scored against the Cougars.
External links
- Video of 2006 Calgary Hitmen Teddy Bear Toss
- Video of 2007 Record Setting Calgary Hitmen Teddy Bear Toss
- A more typical teddy bear toss in the Alberni Valley BulldogsAlberni Valley BulldogsThe Alberni Valley Bulldogs are a Junior "A" ice hockey team based in Port Alberni, British Columbia, Canada. They are members of the Coastal Conference of the British Columbia Hockey League . They play their home games at Weyerhaeuser Arena.-History:...
arena