More than 4,000 stuffed animals were collected during the 14th annual Teddy Bear Toss that took place last weekend during the Utica College hockey game against Chatham University.
When Utica College sophomore Jamie Bucell scored the first goal of the game in the second period, the sold-out crowd threw teddy bears and various other stuffed animals onto the ice. New York Sash employees, family and friends then collected the stuffed animals to prepare them for donation.
“Typically the goal is scored during the first period and is always a relief to get the goal out of the way, but this year, they had a little bit of a slow start but they came out in the second period and scored the goal and the game really turned at that point,” New York Sash owner Scot Hayes said. “They ended up winning 5-0. It was awesome.”
New York Sash, a local family-owned and operated home improvement company, has been a long-time sponsor of the Utica College hockey team and, with that, the organizer of the New York Sash Teddy Bear Toss since its inception.
The teddy bears were taken to New York Sash where they were sorted, organized and put on display for a short period of time.
On Monday, they’ll be bagged and sent off for distribution through a collaborative toy drive with partners Operation Sunshine, Marine Corps Toys for Tots, First News with Keeler in the Morning and WIBX, Spectrum and Utica Mack, Hayes said.
“We couldn’t do it without their partnership because there are so many teddy bears to handle. I mean, there are about 4,000,” Hayes said with a slight chuckle. “The partnerships that we have with Operation Sunshine, Toys for Tots, it gives us the ability to distribute on a mass scale.”
Hayes said he remembered in the early years when he first started this project with Gary Heenan and Utica College, they were on the radio pitching to the public to come participate in the event.
“We were begging them to come out, we wanted to sell the game out,” Hayes said. “In a few short years, we had our first sell-out and it was the first sell-out of Utica College history, and we have sold-out ever since. It’s been wild.”
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