ESTERO
Saturday night will be the latest installment in the tradition of fans tossing teddy bears onto the ice when the Florida Everblades score against the Orlando Solar Bears.
After the Everblades scored their first goal, fans threw hundreds of stuffed animals on the ice.
The best part about the celebration was knowing kids at the Golisano Children’s Hospital will get the teddy bears.
WINK News spoke with fans Chase and Mandy McFarlane about the celebration.
“They score their first goal and you throw it on the ice and there is like a lot of bears… and we sit down low so they all hit us in the head and we throw them again,” Chase and Mandy said.
Fans Ryan Ensley and Myles Kastner were also excited about the celebration.
“We get to bring a teddy bear… and you get to chuck it over the boards,” Ensley and Kastner said.
WINK News saw fans entering the arena in the late afternoon with teddy bears in every imaginable.
Many of the fans said it’s their favorite game of the year and it’s not hard to understand why.
Puck drop between the Solar Bears and Everblades is at 7 p.m.
The Everblades will wear special-themed jerseys during the game.
Those jerseys will get auctioned off to fans benefitting Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation.
That foundation gives many children hope in their fight against cancer.
Hundreds of teddy bears will be thrown, tossed, hurled, and launched onto the ice after the Everblades first goal.
WINK News spoke with fans John and Helen Wilson, who have great seats at the game.
“We’ve been warned because we have seats on the glass so we are going to get hit in the head with a bunch of teddy bears,” John and Helen said.
WINK News also spoke with Ken Schwinn, another fan attending the game.
“It’s an exciting night for us but it’s an exciting night to take part in a charitable event that’s really a lot of fun,” Schwinn said.
The Solar Bears defeated the Everblades five to one but the real winners are going to be the children getting the stuffed animals.
The teddy bears will go from the ice to the children on Monday.
