Throwing teddy bears at ice hockey matches???

[Kiltie]

I saw a clip of this on a random site and had a look to see if it was on Youtube.

To my suprise, it appears to be quite commonplace!

Excellent harmless fun ... but I wondered if anyone could shed any light on the origin or what it's all about.

Cheers,

Eric

[egor110]

I think they do it around xmas time and it's a nominated game not just any random game.
When the home team scores it's 1st goal then let the teddies fly, the teddy bears are then collected up and given to childrens charitys, i think this is the record year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CVbpCSWj1o

[FamilyDub]

Watch This if you think throwing Teddies is weird...

[egor110]

Your link doesn't work but i'll throw the following in:
a fish- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lr-BA3rhjkM

toilet paper- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V6uI_exw30

[VEA]

Description from the top video on your link...

Over 23,000 teddy bears tossed onto the ice for charity after the first Hitmen goal in the first period. Lots of deserving children are going to have teddy bears for Christmas!

[FamilyDub]

egor110 said:

Your link doesn't work

I've posted the mobile (not desktop) link I think.

Ah well, punch 'Detroit Red Wings Octopus throwing' into YouTube...

[egor110]

Nice, here's a top10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B1f6lxWdV8&fea...

[FamilyDub]

Nice clip -- Go Penguins.

[Astonandy]

Termed "air the bear" at the hockey matches over here. Quite a job for some of the little kids to throw it over the plexiglass and onto the ice at some rinks!

[egor110]

Do ice hockey teams get good sized crowds over here?

[mrmr96]

They do "ducks and pucks" at my local team.

[Happy82]

egor110 said:

Do ice hockey teams get good sized crowds over here?

Elite teams generally get around 700-2k depending on how the team is doing / fan base(the arena teams such as Nottingham, Sheffield and Belfast get around 5k I believe?), EPL games generally seem to be around the 500-1000 mark, then ENL games can vary depending on the other senior teams present so can be anything from 10 to 500ish people.

A shame that the sport is not better supported, however the governing body are useless at promoting the game I think that with the right marketing it could become very popular again, but I doubt it'll happen

[egor110]

Is it similar to basketball where say a decade ago the team owners were putting serious money into the teams to raise then level of the sport?