The "What Do Chocolate And Teddy Bears Have In Common?" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Finishing up the last Hershey candy bar that was left over from Halloween which was the end of October.  We had purchased a very large bag of miniature Hershey bars to give to those who knocked on our door while dressed in their costume.  Well, we had only about a dozen children knock on our door and close to a hundred candy bars....thus, we had to eat them ourselves.  My guess is that many of you also eat Hershey bars.  But, what else can you tell me about Hershey?  Did you know that it is actually a town in south-eastern Pennsylvania that is about a 30 minute drive from my home in Lancaster.  Did you know that they have one of the neatest amusement parks in the United States?  How about....did you you know that they have a minor league ice hockey team known as the Hershey Bears.  Yep!  And on December 2 they did something really special.  They shattered the world record for the teddy bear toss that had previously been held by the Calgary hockey team known as the Hitmen.  In 2015 the Hitmen had collected 28,815 teddy bears which were distributed to children in more than 30 different charities.  This past December 2 the Binghamton Devils, from New York, traveled to Hershey, a Washington Capitals' affiliate, for an American Hockey League game.  Most every fan who paid for a ticket carried at least one stuffed teddy bear which would be thrown on the ice after the first goal by the home team Bears.  

Hershey players help collect the teddy bears from the ice.

Hershey player Riley Barber scored a power-play goal in the first period and the bears rained down on the ice.  Those seated close to the ice had to continue to throw the bears that didn't reach the ice by fans close to the top of the Giant Center.  Many of the Bears players helped collect the miniature toy teddy bears while posing for photographs.  They actually moved up the first intermission to the time when the goal was scored since they knew it would take quite a bit of time to collect all the teddy bears.  

When the ice was cleared there was a total of 34,798 stuffed animals donated!  A few fans had also pledged $1 for every stuffed bear which added to the total of donations.  Hershey is a big hockey town having led the league in attendance 11 of the past 12 years by drawing more than 9,000 fans per game.  So now, when you pop a Hershey bar in your mouth you now know that the town is known for something more that chocolate.  It is the record holder for the Teddy Bear toss.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.