Almost every sports team has a strict rule for fans attending a game: Do not throw anything onto the field, court or playing surface. But for one game each year, minor and junior league hockey teams across the U.S. and Canada don’t just allow fans to throw things onto the ice — they encourage it.
The Portland Winterhawks are one of them.
The Winterhawks and the 21 other teams that comprise the Western Hockey League (WHL) host “Teddy Bear Toss” games on various dates between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. In the Pacific Northwest, Portland is joined by Washington State’s Everett Silvertips, Spokane Chiefs, Tri-City Americans and, their opponent from this year’s game, the Seattle Thunderbirds.
The Kamloops Blazers are credited with hosting the first such game in 1993. The Winterhawks held their first one in 1998 and, except for 2020, it’s been a December tradition ever since. The Teddy Bear Toss game is easily one of the most popular and well-attended games in the 68-game season, enticing a lot of casual and first-time fans. This year’s game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum was an announced sellout, with roughly 9,000 fans in attendance, most of whom came with at least one teddy bear or other stuffed animal.
Portland Winterhawks players celebrate the goal that makes it rain stuffed animals at this year's Teddy Bear Toss game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Dec. 10, 2022.
Megan Connelly / Portland Winterhawks
The idea for the “toss” part of the game is simple: Fans take the stuffed animals with them to their seats, and when the home team scores their first goal of the night, they’re allowed to throw them over the plexiglass and onto the ice.
When Winterhawks forward Marcus Nguyen scored about 8 minutes into the first period, the crowd went into a stuffed animal frenzy. Thousands of stuffed bears and other animals, as well as Marvel characters, Minions and more began flying over the glass while others rained down from the 200 section to the lower bowl. (Most stuffed animals don’t complete their journey on the first throw. Getting them to the ice becomes a group effort, with the crowd relaying the stuffed creatures forward and over the glass until the 200-foot rink has piles of them.)
A young fan at this year's Teddy Bear Toss game gets some assistance in tossing their donated teddy bear to the ice, Dec. 10, 2022.
Megan Connelly / Portland Winterhawks
The game itself paused for several minutes. The arena crew brought out large bins and tarps, and multiple pickup trucks navigated the rink and were loaded up with stuffed animals. A Zamboni also circled the rink, welcoming some cuddly passengers.
Winterhawks players watched the downpour of stuffed animals and then posed for pictures with them. Their joy in the moment was a nice reminder the Winterhawks, like all players at the junior level, are still young. Most are between the ages of 16 and 20. Nguyen, the 18-year-old Teddy Bear goal scorer, was all smiles as he leaped onto a pile of stuffed animals.
The Winterhawks went on to win the game 4-3 via shootout, hockey’s equivalent of penalty kicks. Nguyen became a two-time hero of the night, adding the shootout winner to his bragging rights as Teddy Bear goal scorer.
“It was super awesome,” he said after the game. “Sold out crowd, seeing all the fans … we haven’t had that in a long time. It was so loud you couldn’t even hear yourself on the bench.”
Portland Winterhawks player Marcus Nguyen celebrates scoring the "Teddy Bear" goal at Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Dec. 10, 2022.
Matthew Wolfe / Portland Winterhawks
Winterhawks coach and general manager Mike Johnston was happy about the win but also noted the importance of the Teddy Bear Toss as part of a broader goal: Developing his players both on and off the ice.
“I think it’s really important that our players give back to the community,” he said, pointing to other activities his players are involved in, including clean-up efforts in downtown Portland and school visits. He noted the Winterhawks fans supply the charitable part of the event. “It’s a great feel in the building for our fans to be able to give back in that way and see a great hockey game.”
The final stuffed animal count for this year’s game was 14,787. That’s about 1,500 shy of the team’s record, set in 2009. In past years, Winterhawks players would help deliver the items to children’s hospitals but in the current health climate, with COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in high circulation, Les Schwab Tire Centers and various charities will be distributing them instead.
As impressive as nearly 15,000 stuffed animals gathered from one hockey game is, the number is far short of the world record for such a game. Earlier this year the appropriately named Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL) set the Teddy Bear Toss record, with a total of 52,341.
Players from the Portland Winterhawks pose with some of the over 14,787 donated stuffed animals at this year's Teddy Bear Toss game.
Megan Connelly / Portland Winterhawks