’Tis the holiday season and that includes the Gulls’ annual Teddy Bear Toss Night.
The fan-interactive charitable event took place Saturday, Dec. 7, at Pechanga Arena during which fans populated the ice surface with stuffed animals of all shapes and sizes upon the first goal of the game scored by the hometown Gulls.
It’s become a tradition since first introduced in 1993 by the Kamloops Blazers in the Western Hockey League in 1993 and is now a staple for junior, college and minor league teams across North America.
Over the years, thousands, if not tens of thousands, of plush animals have been donated by the Gulls to local children’s charities and foundations.
The Teddy Bear Toss is a part of the San Diego Gulls Foundation’s season calendar of events. The foundation serves as the Gulls’ main charitable beneficiary. Its mission is to facilitate and support programs that produce positive change for children and families throughout the region by providing educational opportunities, broadening access to the sport and addressing the health and wellness needs of the community.
Fans could bring their own stuffed toys to the game while fans could also purchase bears at the San Diego Gulls Foundation booth on game day.
All toys collected will be donated to non-profit organizations throughout San Diego County. Christmas came early for some as Gulls players helped deliver stuffed animals to the Ronald McDonald House on Monday, Dec. 9.
Photos by Phillip Brents
Some teams take the event very seriously. The two-time defending American Hockey League Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears continue to set records. The Bears, the oldest and most decorated team in the AHL, collected 74,599 teddy bears and stuffed animals during the club’s GIANT Teddy Bear Toss on Jan. 7 earlier this year to eclipse the club’s previous record of 67,309 collected toys in 2023.
Gulls fans didn’t have to wait long to start hurling toys onto the ice. That moment came at 10:58 of the first period when Yegor Sidorov scored his fifth goal of the season to push the home team in front 1-0 on the scoreboard against the visiting Ontario Reign.
Almost immediately, furry creatures began raining down around celebrating San Diego players.
“It was unreal,” said Sidorov, a rookie pro with the Gulls. “It was a good experience. I have never scored on a Teddy Bear Night, so it’s good. Good pass, I just needed to hit the net and that’s it.
“I think we started playing fast, smart, too, and then we need to shoot the puck more, I think. And it’s going to be a little better if we shoot the puck more.”
“We’ve just got to be playing smart, with heart, on offense and defense. All 60 minutes and stay off the penalty kill, too.”
The weekend couldn’t have come at a better time after the Gulls snapped a six-game losing streak with an epic 12-round shootout win in San Jose on Wednesday, Dec. 4. The teams each scored one goal in regulation — Justin Bailey for the host Barracuda in the first period and Roland McKeown for San Diego in the second period with a power play goal, assisted by Josh Lopina.
The third period was scoreless as was the five-minute three-on-three overtime period to necessitate the shootout tie-breaker. Normally the tie-breaker goes three rounds but this one kept going and going until the Gulls decided it 2-1. Nikita Nesterenko opened it in the Gulls favor with a goal and Collin Graf tied it for San Jose with a shot in the third round.
From there, 10 consecutive San Diego shooters were turned away by Cuda netminder Yaroslav Askarov while Gulls goaltender Calle Clang stopped nine straight San Jose shots (11 of 12 overall).
Nathan Gaucher scored the eventual game-winner on the Gulls’ 12th shot in the tiebreaker.
Gaucher earned first star of the game billing while Bailey was the game’s second star nd McKeown as the third star.
“I was just excited,” Gaucher said in regard to his showcase showing. “I was watching the goalie for 11 rounds, so I thought, ‘If this is going my way, O know what to do.’ I was just ready to go and buried it. It feels good. But the best feeling is getting that win for your team. That was just a well-fought battle by us, and we just kept utilizing that shootout.”
San Diego out-shot San Jose 36-32 in front of 872 fans at Tech CU Arena. Clang made 31 saves on 32 shots (0.969 save percentage) while Askarov stopped 34 of 35 San Diego shots.
Gaucher called the shootout win a fresh start for December.
“We just build off the things we’ve been doing good, the wins haven’t been racking up for us. It’s a good feeling. We know how to win, we know what to do well, so we just have to do it.”
The Gulls hosted the Bakersfield Condors on County Night on the ensuing Friday. Trailing 3-1 early in the third period, the hosts pulled off one of their recent trademark third-period rallies with four unanswered goals to win 5-3.
The win marked the first time the Gulls had won two consecutive games this season.
Judd Caulfield earned first star with one goal and two assists, including an empty net goal at 19:43.
The Gulls (6-12-1-2) came up short in a 2-1 shootout loss on Saturday but earned five out of a possible six points in the three games.
“We found a style of play that is productive for us, and stacks and cost a lot of energy,” Gulls head coach Matt McIlvane said.
“There’s been a lot of change in our group this year, specifically early on, with guys going up to Anaheim, guys coming back, guys coming up from Tulsa, and so we’ve had to re-establish our brand of hockey,” assistant coach Kris Sparre said. “We’re going to need a lot more of that if we’re going to win hockey games in this league.”
Country Night
As a part of Friday’s Country Night theme, Gulls mascot Gulliver “rode” out to center ice on a “horse” during pregame introductions.
The Gulls were faced with killing a double minor for high sticking very early in the game. The hosts nearly got out of the jam until Cam Dineen scored his first goal of the season with 13 seconds remaining in the four-minute infraction. Assists went to Condors captain Seth Griffith and Matthew Savoie, both of whom picked up their seventh assists of the season.
The first period ended 1-0 Bakersfield as the Gulls killed three of four Condors penalties and the visitors stymied the hosts on two man-power situations. The Condors held a 13-7 shot advantage.
The teams each scored one goal in the second period with Sasha Pastujov cutting into the early 1-0 deficit on a goal at 6:45, assisted by Tristan Luneau and Josh Lopina, to offset a tally by Cameron Wright at 14:17.
The middle period ended with Bakersfield holding a 20-16 edge in shots on goal.
Bakersfield made it 3-1 by scoring the opening goal in the third period. Phil Kemp put the visitors up by two goals at 2:19, assisted by Matvey Petrov and Carl Berglund. The Gulls have made a habit of ferocious third period comebacks of late and they struck again by tallying the game’s final four goals to spirit away a 5-3 victory.
Yegor Sidorov made it 3-2 at 5:51, assisted by Nathan Gaucher and Judd Caulfield.
Roland KcKeown made it 3-3 at 6:14, assisted by Caulfield and Sidoro
Coulson Pitre made it 4-3 on his first professional goal at 9:541 assisted by Nikita Nesterenko and Ryan Carpenter
Caulfield capped the comeback win with an empty net goal at 19:43.
Final shots were 25-22 in favor of the Condors.
The three stars of the game included a San Diego sweep: Caulfield (one goal, two assists) at No. 1, Siderov (one goal, one assist) at No. 2 and Pitre (one goal) at No. 3.
The Gulls killed four of five Bakersfield power plays to the delight of 6,057 fans in the building.
The win was a big one as it marked the first time this season that the Gulls had won two consecutive games.
“We just said belief in our group and that’s something that we’ve been searching to find all year, we’ve had a lot of third period comebacks,” Caulfield said. “We just struck together as a team. That’s something everyone kind of looked at and just like, hey, we got this. We can all stick together and just stick up for each other.
“I think it’s confidence. We’ve done it before, you know, built it right away against Coachella game three at the home opener, and then against Abbortsford and we have against these guys as well. When you build that belief in your comeback ability you can prove it.”
“We were pretty confident in the third period that we were going to be able to come back,” McIlvane said. “We’ve had a lot of goals that we’ve been saving up for a moment like this, and it was fun to watch the guys p[it them in the back of the net.”
Teddy Bear Toss Night
Gulliver switched out his cowboy gear for a Santa suit for the Teddy Bear Toss Night the following game. Fans passed through the turnstiles with stuffed bears of all sizes. Other stuffed creatures also came into the arena toted by many of the 7,591 fans in attendance eager to toss the assemblage onto the ice.
Ontario finished the first period with a 14-4 bulge in shots while trailing 1-0 on the scoreboard. The Gulls killed an Ontario power play midway through the period prior to scoring the Teddy Bear goal.
16-4 shot advantage in the second period for a commanding 30-8 edge in the game but still trailed 1-0. SD starter Oskar Dansk stopped all 16 shots in faced in the period while the Gulls killed two more power plays.
The Gulls opened the third period with three consecutive shots on a more encouraging note. The Reign scored on their third shot of the period to knot the score 1-1. Andre Lee scored his first goal of the season at 2:58, assisted by Jack Studnicka and Angus Booth. Lee roofed Dansk on the play.
The Gulls had a chance to go ahead on the scoreboard when Studnicka was charged with slashing at 5:48. It became a two-man advantage when Ontario’s Lee was dinged for a holding call at 7:08.
The Reign escaped the five-on-three deficit, holding a 35-15 edge in shots with 8:00 to play in regulation.
The shots ended 37-18 through regulation as the teams skated into the five-minute overtime segment. Ontario won the shots battle 38-22, though the Gulls took all four shots in OT.
The Reign won the three-round tiebreaker 1-0 on a goal by Taylor Ward.
Lee earned first star, Sidorov second star and Kinal third star.
Dansk stopped a season-high 37 of 38 shots in likely playing his best game of the season. “Oskar was solid,” McIlvane said. “It’s why you bring a guy like that in … to give you some veteran leadership and create calm in the net, and that’s what he provided.”
The Gulls, playing their third game in four days, picked up their fifth point in three games with the shootout loss.
The Gulls will host a rematch with San Jose on Saturday, Dec. 14, as part of the Gulls’ annual Winter Wonderland promotion.
Seven teams in the Pacific Division have winning records at the quarter mark of the season. That’s exactly the number of teams that qualify from the division. The Condors, Gulls and Henderson Silver Knights would be the three teams left out at this point of the season.
