The largest of which, of course, was the Toss itself.
Warriors captain Owen Hardy scored with 37.5 seconds to play in the first period to send the bears and toques and mittens flying, as fans continued the tradition began by the Kamloops Blazers in 1993 by throwing the soft stuff on the ice after the home team’s first goal.
“It’s awesome, but that goal is definitely not just me,” Hardy said. “I’m playing with two great players in Ryder Korczak and Brayden Tracey, so they have a lot to do with that as well. But the support it unbelievable and I couldn’t be more grateful.”
Warriors head coach Tim Hunter wasn’t surprised in the least to see the thousand-plus stuffed animals hit the ice, all in support of the Salvation Army Christmas Toy Drive.
“It’s great,” he said. “This time of year, there are lots of needy people out there and it’s great that the people come and contribute. The one thing about Moose Jaw is it’s a great giving community, if there’s something or someone in need, Moose Jaw is very giving.”
Of course, there still was a hockey game to be played, and it didn’t go as well as the Warriors hoped.
Michael Horon had scored a pair of goals to put the Raiders up 2-0 before Hardy scored his marker. Evan Herman and Tyson Laventure made it 4-1 through two and former Warriors forward Daniil Stepanov closed out scoring with 6:53 to play in the third.
Warriors captain Owen Hardy celebrates with teammates after scoring the Teddy Bear Toss goal.After a series of games where the Warriors had been badly outshot, the Tribe carried the edge in that department throughout the night against the CHL fourth-ranked Raiders, as Carter Seryenko stopped 28 shots for Prince Albert and Adam Evanoff 22 for the Warriors.
“It didn’t seem like a 5-1 game to me, I thought we played well and it’s a shame it was the Teddy Bear Toss game because we scored to make it 2-1 and had some momentum then we had to wait 25, 30 minutes to get back and play,” Hunter said. “It is what is, they got some breaks and we didn’t. We had some good looks on the power play, there were some good chances five-on-five and their goalie played well. There are lots of things that are turning the corner, lots of things that look better than they did a week or so ago, so that’s the positive.”
Even though the Warriors have now lost nine straight and find themselves nine points out of a playoff spot, those gradual signs of improvement have the team hoping to find the win column again sooner than later.
Brayden Tracey and Kobe Mohr pause for pic while gathering up the stuffed animals.“It’s just the same as every day, we wake up tomorrow and try to get better and have a positive attitude,” Hardy said. “It’s been a rough go here, but the only thing we can do here is come to the rink every day and get better. That’s going to be our goal next day and we just want to take another step forward.”
The Warriors are back in action Tuesday when they host the Kamloops Blazers. Game time is 7 p.m. at Mosaic Place.
