Photo: Joe Noyes/NoVa Caps
It’s one of the greatest traditions in all of hockey. The Hershey Bears annual Teddy Bear Toss game. It’s rumored the players have a bet and/or pool of money for the one who pots the toy-tossing tally, but regardless, it’s a tremendous honor for any player to score the frenzy-igniting goal.
This year’s event was held on Sunday against the Bridgeport Islanders. Unfortunately, the Islanders blanked the Bears, 2-0. Bridgeport goaltender Jakub Skarek made 39 saves to silence a Bears offense in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,583.
As a result of the shutout, the Bears faced something they hadn’t faced before in the history of the event. No teddy-tossing goal. In fact, the toss has never advanced to the third period, with goals being scored five times in the second period, and the rest being scored in the first period of play. Liam O’Brien scored the latest goal in the event’s history in 2017, initiating the toy toss at 13:27 of the second period.
An announcement was made to the crowd at Giant Center with 3:06 remaining in regulation, asking fans to refrain from throwing teddy bears until after the game. The announcement was met with a steady stream of boos from the Giant Center faithful.
Later, following a stoppage in play, with just five seconds remaining in regulation, fans decided to begin tossing their plush animals.
Bears fans decide enough is enough and start the Teddy Bear toss on their own. Bears losing 2-0 with 5 seconds remaining in regulation. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/B8aInxCrc4
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) January 29, 2023
The Bears reportedly contacted the league office and the final five seconds of the game were ultimately erased, thus ending the contest. Bears’ defenseman Vinny Iorio had a message for the fans following the game:
A message to Bear Nation from defenseman Vincent Iorio. pic.twitter.com/oGYTTufUw4
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 30, 2023
In the end, it was another record-setting night in Hershey, as the team announced Sunday evening that they had collected 67,309 teddy bears, a new world record. Hershey set the old world record last season with the 20th anniversary toss. accumulating 52,341 bears;
At the end of the day, the children of our community are the true winners. #TeddyBearTossHershey has once again established a new WORLD RECORD of 67,309 teddy bears collected for over 35 local charities. THANK YOU for your generosity! #HersheyBearsCares pic.twitter.com/fPwgU8nnM6
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) January 30, 2023
The Bears have conducted the much-anticipated event since 2001, collecting over 300,000 stuffed animals as part of the club’s Hershey Bears Cares initiative, which “showcases the philanthropic activities and volunteer efforts of Bears players and staff members throughout the community.”
Teddy bears and stuffed animals are collected annually by the Hershey Bears and their fans and donated to more than 35 local organizations including Dauphin County Children and Youth Services, Cocoa Packs, Boys & Girls Club of Harrisburg, Palmer Lions Club, and Autism Society Greater Harrisburg Area.”
Scenes From Hershey:
Della Young/NoVa Caps
Photos: Joe Noyes/NoVa Caps
By Michael Fleetwood
That is sad
Truly. Sad at any time, but so unexpected this year.
It’s tough to play a day game after a night game.
That was a tough one. Bears had a dozen high-quality chances and Islanders goaltender said no. He had a .892 save percentage entering the game.
Players still dove into the pile which is always hilarious to see. Great captures by Joe Noyes!
Let’s be clear. The people booing and who threw bears with five seconds left were not “fans”. They weee trash. How embarrassing. Sure it was a sold out game. But too many idiots there to just throw a bear. Not support the team.
So did some people take their ‘bears’ home with them? Even as a fan, I know I would be so disappointed. I don’t know if I would want to just throw the toy without a goal to celebrate.
Which will be worse, Bears game or Caps game today. Leafs have already chased Darcy back to the bench.
These stuffed animals go to a number of charities and ultimately to a lot of children. If you’d rather take them home because they didn’t score, then that says a lot about you.
Really? My church has a nursery and I’m sure they could put a new stuffed toy to good use. But maybe you are against churches.
Don’t be obtuse.
Lighten uo
Relax. It wasn’t even a big deal. The game was over. It isn’t like it was a one-goal game. The announcement made with over three minutes left made things worse. I understand what they were saying, but their was a lot of frustration in the crowd because the Bears hadn’t score. Everyone wanted to throw their animals & the announcement just made that frustration level higher. This is where Hershey needs a backup plan. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton has it that if the Pens don’t score by the end of the 2nd period, the toss occurs during the second intermission. Maybe the Hershey organization needs to adopt the same policy. That would prevent any incidents
5 seconds remaining is a formality. But it feels like there was no plan in place. Most teddy bear tosses without a goal by the end of two periods holds the toss at the end of the second period.
There was no plan that I was told when entering the game.
I’m not sure that’s something that would be announced or not. Doesn’t set a good tone from the start. It’s a highly unique situation, never even came close in the last 20 years. We just need to keep in mind the big picture and great benefit to the local charities. The game will fade, but the work will not.
The announcement with 3 mins was a bad idea all the way around.
If they didn’t say anything, I bet the same thing would have happened. The announcement just made angry fans angrier
Jon, about Garin. Pension Plan Puppets, Toronto fan site, has an extensive article on the business of hockey. In it they say
“The team a player signs a contract with doesn’t tell you where the player is playing once training camp is over. Many players are loaned to other teams. We usually use the term “sent down” to refer to loans to the minor leagues, but all of these transactions are loans. There are many NHL-contracted players in the AHL, and they are subject to all the rules of the NHL CBA — they are paid by their NHL teams and are eligible to play on the NHL team. There are a small number of NHL players in the ECHL as well. Players in the ECHL might be on loan from either an AHL or NHL team, and they are subject to those contracts and CBA rules and are paid the salary set in that contract for.”
When I read that, I tend to believe that Garin going or not going on LTIR is strictly a Caps call. As an NHL contracted player, he is subject to NHL rules. So, since the last things the Caps did was to loan him to the Stingrays, the Rays just keep him on the roster waiting for either his return or the Caps to do something. So any official statement about Garin’s status would come from the Caps.
Interesting. Thanks for the blurb, Fyre.
I wonder if it also has to do with burning a year of his entry level-deal versus an “entry-level slide” year, which is often done.
Now you’re getting into things I really don’t understand.
If it is a Caps’ issue (Cap’s decision) that would explain why the Rays don’t talk about him on their website, don’t mention him in their broadcasts (even the segment on goalies they had), and haven’t answered you. It’s not their decision. So far, that is the only thing that makes sense to me. But then I know nothing about entry level deals and slides.
It’s just a puzzle that won’t stop bothering me.