Watch: AHL’s Hershey Bears collect over 20,000 stuffed animals in Teddy Bear Toss

One of the things the hockey community does best is the continued trend of the teddy bear toss, where teams collect plush toys thrown to the ice by fans and donate them to charity.
The AHL’s Hershey Bears held their event on Sunday afternoon, and when Garrett Mitchell scored the team’s first goal at 15:02 of the first period against the Syracuse Crunch, the bears rained down.
And they didn’t stop, setting a new team record for stuffed animals collected with 20,662.
Seriously, the toys were everywhere, covering the ice at the Giant Center in Hershey, PA. Thankfully, the Bears, their staff and a team of volunteers were there to help clean up and count every last one of them.
.@TheHersheyBears help clean up the deluge of bears the landed on the ice. pic.twitter.com/zClhKz6sc9
— Andrew Forgotch (@A_Forgotch) December 4, 2016
The count is on! Thanks volunteers & fans for support of the Teddy Bear Toss! #TeddyBearTossHershey pic.twitter.com/hS5kaBift0
— Hershey Bears (@TheHersheyBears) December 4, 2016
Ok, well maybe there’s still a few outstanding, but that just means a bigger record for the team to break next time.
20, 664 did you count these two still hanging on? #hbh #DefendTheDen pic.twitter.com/1aIuVuCGxN
— tracey brewbaker (@bretra88) December 4, 2016
For more photos of large men in hockey equipment engulfed in gigantic piles of fuzzy toys, check out Chocolate Hockey.