The Bakersfield Condors just had their 17th annual Teddy Bear Toss. Despite the team losing to Stockton Heat, it still gathered nearly 8000 stuffed animals.
There were 8212 people in attendance which threw to the ice a total of 7908 teddy bears and other stuffed animals after the Condors’ first goal of the game. The number topped last year’s achievement of 7358 stuffies.
The team announced that now it has gathered a total of 103 475 stuffed animals in the 17-year history of its annual Teddy Bead Toss events. This means the average per season is no up to 6087 stuffed animals. The gathering of the toys from the ice took 12 minutes which is one of the fastest in hockey, the team said.
This year the toys will be donated to the United Way of Kern County. The organization will distribute the teddy bears to over 50 local charitable organizations.
This weekend the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen will also hold their Teddy Bear Toss. The team always gathers one of the biggest amounts of stuffed animals during the annual event. This year the Hitmen are rallying up their fans in order to beat last year’s achievement of 25 214 stuffed animals.
The Teddy Bear Toss event is being held by all teams both huge and small. Sometimes curious things happen. Like at the game of Kingston Frontenacs which scored a goal, but it was waived off almost immediately. The fans though didn’t notice that and threw hundreds of stuffed animals on the ice.
So yes, mistakes can happen. But it is all in good fun and children in need get to have some stuffed animals. What happens if the home team doesn’t score a goal? Usually the teddy bears are tossed on the ice late in the game or after it. But this happens so rarely, it’s almost a special event on it’s own.
