The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Hockey Fight Breaks Out As Teddy Bears Rain Down From The Stands
Teddy Bear Toss season has already been off to a killer start this season in hockey. First up we had top NHL Draft prospect Michael Misa getting suspended 1-game in the OHL for shooting teddy bears back off the ice and into the crowd.
And then this Teddy Bear Toss goal in a Florida Everblades game ended up getting called off for goaltender interference.
In case you're unfamiliar with the tradition of "Teddy Bear Toss Night", it's a promotion that a bunch of junior and minor league hockey teams do during the holidays. Everyone shows up to the game with a bunch of teddy bears, and then they all launch them on the ice after the home team scores their first goal. Then all the teddy bears are donated to a local children's hospital or something along those lines.
So as the away team, not only do you have to get scored on but then you have to just stand there as thousands of teddy bears come storming out of the sky and flood the ice. You need to wait for the teddy bears to stop raining down, you need to wait while the game day operation crew comes out on the ice and cleans them all up, and then you need to get back to playing hockey. It has to be a pretty frustrating few minutes, and hockey players don't typically handle the emotion of frustration well. So in this particular game between the Barrie Colts and Ottawa 67's, that frustration turned into a good ol' fashioned donnybrook breaking out after the goal.
It's one of the most beautiful sights you'll ever see. Teddy Bears flying around everywhere while 10 guys on the ice are all trying to kill each other. You've got some underpaid refs figuring out if it's even worth it to break up the fights, you've got someone dressed up as the Grinch out there collecting the teddy bears. Everything about it is more ridiculous than the next. This is what hockey Christmas is all about. The only qualm I have with the video is that there's no audio. I just hope to god that the in-arena DJ had a sense for the moment and turned on a few Christmas classics during the fight.