HERSHEY, PA — The Hershey Bears held their world famous Teddy Bear Toss Game against the Providence Bruins on Sunday, bringing together 10,514 of hockey fans across the area to participate in a ritual that is both chaotic and cathartic. Fans, young to old, bring stuffed animals, sometimes trash bags full of them, and when a Hershey Bears’ player scores the team’s first goal of the game, the Chocolate and White faithful begin heaving them onto the ice one-by-one — a joyous experience.
Pierrick Dubé admitted that fans weren’t the only ones who get excited about the game. “It’s pretty up there (for us players). It’s a big moment for everyone — for the kids, for the community, for the Bears organization. People know the Bears for this, too. It’s a big part of that.”
Sunday, the Bears saw 102,343 stuffed animals donated, a new hockey record, surpassing the club’s previous hockey world record of 74,599 collected in 2024. Hershey’s annual Teddy Bear Toss has collected 566,450 teddy bears since its inception in 2001.
This year, veteran centerman Mike Sgarbossa scored the milestone Teddy Bear Toss goal — though there was a premature heave that nearly got the Bears a penalty for delay of game minutes earlier. Hershey defenseman Chase Priskie hit the pipe 12:29 into the first period and fans from the southwest corner of the arena, who were on the opposite end of the ice and could not see the action well, thought the puck went into the net. They began tossing their stuffed animals as fans around the arena and the PA announcer pleaded with them to stop.
“The crowd was electric at the start of the game, everybody was anticipating when that goal is gonna happen,” Bears head coach Todd Nelson said. “And we rim it off the crossbar and it’s premature in the one end.”
“Yeah, that was different,” Bears forward Spencer Smallman said smiling. “I get it — I thought the person on the microphone who told them to stop throwing was incredibly quick on that.”
After a short stoppage that lasted only a few minutes, the ice was cleaned up and play started again. Sgarbossa dented the twine two minutes and 16 seconds later turning the Giant Center ice into a temporary donation center, featuring mountains of stuffies.
I was situated in the referee tunnel along the corner boards. And trust me, the idea of stuffed animals seems cute and fun, but during Hershey’s Teddy Bear Toss, when you’re pelted with dozens of them at the same time — especially with your back to a crazed crowd of donaters with no where to move — they can knock you over, give you extreme anxiety, and oh yeah, maybe even drop your phone.
“I just kept getting hit with teddy bears,” Matt Strome said, recalling his experience from the bench. “There’s nothing like it in hockey, so to be a part of that was pretty sweet.”
Eventually, I made it out onto the ice and took in the spectacle.
Bears players jumped into the piles and helped volunteers bag up the stuffed animals.
Sgarbossa took photos with his milestone goal puck and his two children, who were allowed to share the special moment with their dad. They wore matching chocolate brown Sgarbossa sweats.
“I think I got a couple (bears) in the head when I was trying to celebrate with the guys,” Sgarbossa said. “It’s just a great experience, and it’s fun when you can contribute to make this happen.”
“It’s my seventh year and it just gets more and more special each year,” Sgarbossa added. “Did we set a new record? It’s always exciting. It’s the first one I’ve scored in seven years so that was fun. Coming out with the kids, it’s super exciting, just a great time.”
Stuffies of all shapes and sizes were thrown onto the ice. Teddy bears, narwhals, aliens, Hershey candy bar characters, bumblebees, giraffes, snowmen with bedazzled top hats. If you can imagine it, it was there.
“The coolest stuffed animal I saw?” Dubé said. “I don’t know. I saw a lot of animals. I love monkeys.”
Dubé, who is especially close to star center Hendrix Lapierre, jumped into a pile with the top prospect centerman and both seemed blissful in the moment. Though at one point, Lapierre was nearly lost to the pile.
“It’s fun,” Lapierre said. “You could stay there for a couple hours, for sure.”
“It’s a pretty cool moment,” Dubé said. “Having another French guy on the team, just to speak, talk. When it’s more quiet, it’s always fun to have some guy like that [who I’ve known] for a couple of years now. We played together, junior, and now we play together again. It’s always fun to be around him.”
Hershey Bears defenseman Ethan Bear, smiling ear-to-ear during the event, gave us a rare bear trifecta: Bear in a Bears jersey while holding a teddy bear.
Seemingly every player jumped into a pile before going down the locker room to get ready for an extended second period, where the remaining 5:15 of game play from the first period was added to the clock.
Hardy Häman Aktell and Alex Limoges made a leap while filming in selfie mode.
So did Mike Vecchione and Ethen Frank, who removed their helmets for the leap.
Bogdan Trineyev got some major hangtime before jokingly suffocating under a mountain of plushies.
Aaron Ness helped his son “jump” into a baby pile.
Hershey Bears mascot Coco got in on the fun.
Even this hockey blogger.
As the active players left the ice — Trineyev was the last to leave — injured players and other veterans who were scratched jumped out onto the ice to spend time with their families, including Garrett Roe and Brad Hunt.
“I told the guys, I said, ‘You know what? We’re here to win the game and get two points, but when this happens, it’s a pretty special moment, so enjoy it,'” Nelson said. “And it was fun. The feeling was just pure joy, doing something for a great cause, all the charities and that. And it was a really good day, hockey wise but also with the teddy bear toss. I don’t think we could have drawn it up any better.”
The Bears, after a difficult December where they struggled to score and got shut out three different times, exploded for five goals on the night, getting tallies from Smallman (2), Strome, and Grant Cruikshank. The 5-1 victory was the most goals the Bears have scored since putting up five against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms on December 8.
The cleanup on the ice took approximately 42 minutes. Sgarbossa’s goal came at 3:39 pm and the ice crew left the ice at 4:20 pm. The teddy bears were sorted underneath the concourse and behind the Zamboni entrance where dozens of people volunteered their time.
All of the stuffed animals will be donated as part of the Hershey Bears Cares initiative and be given 35 local and regional organizations, including Schreiber Pediatric, Vista Autism Services, Middletown School District, Gigi’s Playhouse Lancaster, Central PA Food Bank, Off the Streets, Palmyra Lions Club, Milton and Catherine Hershey Schools, and Autism Society Greater Harrisburg Area. Additionally, the Sweigart Family Foundation pledged to donate a sum to the Children’s Miracle Network which will match the number of stuffed animals thrown on the ice.
The biggest contributor of all was Gabby from Gabby’s Acts of Kindness. After collecting stuffed animals all year long, she donated 40,515 stuffed animals to the cause on Sunday.
“We were driving home from the Hershey Bears’ Teddy Bear Toss 12 years ago and my wife asked what the record was,” Brock Kerchner, her dad, said. “I knew I was in trouble. We have now collected over 125,000 over the last 11 years. We had already been doing some acts of kindness, but this became our main focus.”
Over the past 11 years, the charity has donated a stunning 125,000 stuffed animals to Hershey’s cause and can legitimately say it’s “changing the world one smile at a time.”
Everywhere you looked there was joy and happiness: exactly what a hockey game should be.
“It’s getting bigger and bigger and first year was actually pretty bad because we didn’t score,” Lapierre said. “But it’s awesome. It’s a good time. It’s fun to see the kids and the joy in everyone’s face.”
