Hershey Bears fans threw over 100,000 teddy bears and other stuffed animals on the ice — all for a good cause
The Teddy Bear Toss has been around for over 30 years. And nobody does it quite like the AHL team that shares a name.
If you’ve never been to a minor-league hockey game before, you’re missing out on one of its most cherished and iconic traditions — the Teddy Bear Toss.
The first recorded Teddy Bear Toss came in 1993, when the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers came up with the idea to invite fans to bring teddy bears to the game, which would be thrown on the ice after the home team’s first goal in celebration. All the stuffed toys would be donated to charity.
Ever since that first Teddy Bear Toss, teams across the U.S. and Canada have been upping their game — but none as high as the Hershey Bears, the Capitals’ AHL affiliate based in Hershey, Pa. On Sunday, the club set a world record for most teddy bears tossed on the ice during a hockey game, with fans throwing 102,343 teddy bears and stuffed animals onto the ice, smashing their 2024 record of 74,599 teddy bears.
The teddy bears will be donated to more than 35 charitable 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, and a donor will contribute $102,343, in honor of the number of teddy bears that found their way onto the ice.
The Bears are the most prolific Teddy Bear Toss team, collecting 566,450 bears since its inception in 2001, and will almost certainly take another crack at the record in 2026. But virtually every team takes a crack at it — the Flyers’ AHL affiliate, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, hosted their Teddy Bear Toss game against the Bears on Dec. 9, setting a franchise record with 11,853 teddy bears.
The games aren’t without their controversy — a fight broke out during one in the OHL in December, and another player was suspended for tossing one of the teddy bears back into the crowd earlier that month — but they are a great time for a good cause.
But in Hershey, it was all fun and games … for a good cause.