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Sports Dec 23, 2023
| Photo courtesy of the Coachella Valley Firebirds
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The Coachella Valley Firebirds will conduct their second annual Teddy Bear Toss at Saturday evening’s sold-out game against the Bakersfield Condors at Acrisure Arena.
Fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears and other stuffed animals and throw them on the ice after the Firebirds‘ first goal. Any item thrown on the ice will not be returned.
All stuffed animals will be collected and distributed to the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base, California Highway Patrol, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department stations across the Coachella Valley along with police and fire stations for use when responding to calls involving children.
Fans can drop off or donate large quantities of stuffed animals at the Christmas tree on the plaza at Acrisure Arena from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Those bags will not be accessible after they are dropped off.
Fans who would like to bring large amounts of bears or stuffed animals to the game must have them stored in clear bags with no hard objects attached to or in the bags. All bags will be searched by security at the gates, which may cause delays in entering the arena.
Teddy bear tosses are a Christmastime staple of minor and junior hockey teams. The Kamloops (British Columbia) Blazers of the Western Hockey League are credited with being the first team to hold a teddy bear toss, during the 1993-94 season.
The record is claimed by the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears of 67,309 teddy bears and stuffed animals during their Jan. 29 game, breaking the previous record of 52,341 collected in 2022 by the Bears.
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