Teddy Bear Toss Calgary, Even after five years of going through the paces, Calgary Hitmen veteran Cody Sylvester still gets pumped up over the Petro Canada Teddy-Bear Toss game.
“Every time it’s exciting,” said the team’s captain, who’ll be one of many trying to score Calgary’s first goal on Sunday to send thousands of fuzzy creatures raining down on the Scotiabank Saddledome ice. “You never lose excitement over a game like that.
“We almost sell out the Dome and just seeing all those fans, 16,000, 17,000, 18,000 fans cheering you on is a great feeling. It’s always loud in that game and obviously scoring that first goal and seeing all those Teddy Bears come raining down on you, hitting you in the head and whatnot, it’s a pretty cool thing.”
There’s nothing like it, really. Fans stay on the edge of their seat, anticipating the first goal. Every player on the Hitmen roster wants to score it.
And, when it does happen, complete mayhem erupts.
“It’s, by far, the coolest game I’ve ever played in,” said Hitmen forward Calder Brooks, who pulled the trigger last season in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers. “Scoring the goal was unbelievable and seeing all the bears come down.
“The atmosphere in that building playing in front of those fans is a spectacular feeling. I was just lucky enough to score the goal.”
Last season, Brooks’ goal — with less than two minutes left in the second period — sent 25,303 bears to the ice thanks to the generosity of around 16,000 fans.
A scene which Brooks remembers well.
“When I scored, I tripped over the goalie and fell and when I got back up I just jumped into the glass,” said Brooks who is still on the mend from shoulder surgery. “Then all the guys that were on the ice with me at the time, we celebrated and did the swing by the bench.”
As of Friday night, the Hitmen had opened the Press Level seating for Sunday’s matinee, the 18th edition, versus the Kootenay Ice (2 p.m., Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
And, according to Sylvester, the crowd doesn’t go unnoticed.
“The louder is, the more excited we get,” said the overage forward who scored in the 2011 Teddy Bear Toss. “I’d say the guys have a lot more jump during the Teddy Bear Toss.”
Hitmen rookie Jake Virtanen, for one, is anticipating some jitters.
“It’s going to be my first Teddy Bear Toss,” he said. “I think it’ll be pretty exciting to play in front of a crowd like that in an atmosphere like that. I don’t really get nervous before games but I think this game, it’ll be a bit more nerve-racking with all of those people coming to the game.
“You’ll just have to shake the butterflies off in warm-up but I think it’ll be pretty fun.”
And at the end of the day, there are still two points at stake on Sunday.
Heading into Friday’s game against the Saskatoon Blades, the Hitmen (17-5-1-2) were looking to redeem themselves against Kootenay who out-played them by a large margin back on Nov. 12 and blanked them 4-0.
“Kootenay beat us last game and I thought that was probably one of our worst games we played as a team this year,” Sylvester said. “That was unacceptable. Obviously, we’re going to come out a lot stronger and a lot more intensely. I think it’s a good thing we’re playing them seeing how we lost last game.
“The guys are going to be really excited.”
“Every time it’s exciting,” said the team’s captain, who’ll be one of many trying to score Calgary’s first goal on Sunday to send thousands of fuzzy creatures raining down on the Scotiabank Saddledome ice. “You never lose excitement over a game like that.
“We almost sell out the Dome and just seeing all those fans, 16,000, 17,000, 18,000 fans cheering you on is a great feeling. It’s always loud in that game and obviously scoring that first goal and seeing all those Teddy Bears come raining down on you, hitting you in the head and whatnot, it’s a pretty cool thing.”
There’s nothing like it, really. Fans stay on the edge of their seat, anticipating the first goal. Every player on the Hitmen roster wants to score it.
And, when it does happen, complete mayhem erupts.
“It’s, by far, the coolest game I’ve ever played in,” said Hitmen forward Calder Brooks, who pulled the trigger last season in an eventual 2-1 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers. “Scoring the goal was unbelievable and seeing all the bears come down.
“The atmosphere in that building playing in front of those fans is a spectacular feeling. I was just lucky enough to score the goal.”
Last season, Brooks’ goal — with less than two minutes left in the second period — sent 25,303 bears to the ice thanks to the generosity of around 16,000 fans.
A scene which Brooks remembers well.
“When I scored, I tripped over the goalie and fell and when I got back up I just jumped into the glass,” said Brooks who is still on the mend from shoulder surgery. “Then all the guys that were on the ice with me at the time, we celebrated and did the swing by the bench.”
As of Friday night, the Hitmen had opened the Press Level seating for Sunday’s matinee, the 18th edition, versus the Kootenay Ice (2 p.m., Sportsnet 960 The Fan).
And, according to Sylvester, the crowd doesn’t go unnoticed.
“The louder is, the more excited we get,” said the overage forward who scored in the 2011 Teddy Bear Toss. “I’d say the guys have a lot more jump during the Teddy Bear Toss.”
Hitmen rookie Jake Virtanen, for one, is anticipating some jitters.
“It’s going to be my first Teddy Bear Toss,” he said. “I think it’ll be pretty exciting to play in front of a crowd like that in an atmosphere like that. I don’t really get nervous before games but I think this game, it’ll be a bit more nerve-racking with all of those people coming to the game.
“You’ll just have to shake the butterflies off in warm-up but I think it’ll be pretty fun.”
And at the end of the day, there are still two points at stake on Sunday.
Heading into Friday’s game against the Saskatoon Blades, the Hitmen (17-5-1-2) were looking to redeem themselves against Kootenay who out-played them by a large margin back on Nov. 12 and blanked them 4-0.
“Kootenay beat us last game and I thought that was probably one of our worst games we played as a team this year,” Sylvester said. “That was unacceptable. Obviously, we’re going to come out a lot stronger and a lot more intensely. I think it’s a good thing we’re playing them seeing how we lost last game.
“The guys are going to be really excited.”
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