First it was hats. Then it was octopi. Now it's... teddy bears??

[KamaAina]

Seriesly.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Video-Watch-23-096-stuffed-animals-bombard-a-ho?urn=nhl-296981

While tossing hats onto the ice when a player scores three goals might be hockey's most famous tossing tradition, it simply doesn't compare to the Technicolor grandeur of 23,096 teddy bears and other stuffed animals blanketing the rink as they did at the Calgary Hitmen game on Sunday:

For 16 years the Hitmen, who were co-owned by and named after former WWF champion Bret Hart, have held a Teddy Bear Toss to benefit over 50 charities in Alberta that work with children. On Monday, after the 23,000-strong toss, the players hand-delivered teddy bears to the Alberta Children's Hospital.

The fans bring the stuffed animals to the game and then wait for the first goal to be scored. For the 16,844 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome watching the Hitmen take on the Red Deer Rebels on Sunday, the honor went to Cody Sylvester at 3:49 of the first period. He scored, the mayhem started and continued for 40 minutes while play was delayed. "It's unbelievable," Sylvester told the Examiner after the game. "Scoring in front of all those fans and all those teddy bears coming down on you - it's a pretty special moment."

Wonder what would happen to an arena full of teddy bears if the Hitmen happened to be shut out?

[Forkboy]

1. That's fucking awesome!

:)