HERSHEY, PA — A year after not scoring in their Teddy Bear Toss game, the Bears made sure that wouldn’t happen again this season against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Bogdan Trineyev sniped home the game’s opening goal 4:15 into the second period, beginning one of the greatest traditions in sports.
Tens of thousands of stuffed animals were thrown onto the Giant Center ice by a sold out Hershey crowd, pausing the game for 50 minutes as players and volunteers collected the stuffies in large bags for local charities.
Trineyev scored after taking a long outlet pass from defenseman Hardy Haman Aktell. The Russian forward bobbled the puck entering the offensive zone, but regathered enough to fire a low-angle shot from the right circle. The snipe found its way past Lehigh Valley goaltender Cal Petersen.
“Let the sweet cuddly mayhem commence,” Bears play-by-play man Zack Fisch yelled. “It’s plush pandemonium in Hershey!”
Players took pics for media on the ice and jumped into the piles of stuffed animals, including Trineyev and Ivan Miroshnichenko, who seemed to be having the time of their life.
Joe Snively did a fast missle-like jump.
Meanwhile, the starting goaltender on the night, Mitchell Gibson, opted for a bellyflop with all his gear on.
Clay Stevenson, Mitchell’s backup on the night, started making glove saves on the stuffed animals.
Stevenson later made himself useful by spending much of his time getting stuffed animals that had gotten stuck in the netting.
While getting into the morass of toys was fun, getting out sure was a struggle. “How do I get out of here?” Vincent Iorio said.
“Uh, help!” Dylan McIlrath said to me. (I outstretched my hand and pulled him out.) “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Miroshnichenko replied to me later.
Bears forward Pierrick Dube, who leads the team in goals with 19, managed to find a teddy bear that was literally larger than himself and posed for a photo.
In the end, Bears fans broke their own record from 2023, heaving 74,599 stuffed animals onto the ice – a new franchise and hockey record. The fans’ enthusiasm for the event remains staggering. With a sold-out crowd of 10,765, 6.92 bears were thrown onto the ice per person.
Nearly 20,000 stuffed animals alone were collected through Gabby’s Acts of Kindness.
Per Wikipedia, the current world record is held by Polish soccer team, Jagiellonia Białystok, who claimed the new world record of 109,407 stuffed animals during a game on October 1, 2023.
The Hershey Bears will be donating the stuffed animals to over 35 local charities as part of the club’s Hershey Bears Cares program, including Catherine Hershey Schools, Vista Autism Services, Harrisburg School District, Cocoa Packs, Hershey Food Bank, Helping the Harrisburg Family, Palmyra Lions Club, Milton Hershey School, and Autism Society Greater Harrisburg Area.
Even better? Hershey won the game in overtime 3-2 after Alex Limoges scored in overtime.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
