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Hitmen fans cover Saddledome ice with thousands of teddy bears (VIDEO)

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
|
Dec 4 2022, 11:28 pm
Hitmen fans cover Saddledome ice with thousands of teddy bears (VIDEO)

Is there any better feeling in the world than getting hit by a couple hundred teddy bears in the face?

On Sunday afternoon, the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen hosted one of the year’s most popular games, the annual Teddy Bear Toss.

The rules are pretty simple for the Teddy Bear Toss, which has become a staple in many junior hockey arenas across the continent: home team scores their first goal, fans throw bears for charity onto the ice and pause the game until they’re cleaned up.

London Hoilett’s fourth goal of the season to tie things 1-1 in the first period.

Any guesses what followed?

Well, thousands and thousands of teddy bears.

The thousands of bears, and various other stuffed animals, will eventually benefit over 50 local charities this holiday season, including the Alberta Children’s Hospital, the Calgary Food Bank, and the Siksika Nation.

Here’s the clip of Hoilett’s goal, and the chaos that followed:

 

“As an organization, we make it our goal every year to meet the request for bears, which is currently at 26,000. We are calling on the community and hockey fans to come together to help us in our mission,” said Hitmen business operations assistant manager Amy Bontorin, per the Calgary Sun. “This year’s goal is aggressive, but we know the people of Calgary and surrounding area will help us achieve it.”

The Hitmen state the all-time record of bears collected at 29,635 at the 2018 game, where Kaden Elder scored the opening goal at 4:18 of the first period.

At press time on Sunday, the score was tied at two goals apiece after the second intermission.

One can only wonder what would happen if the Hitmen win.

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