NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
The Medicine Hat Tigers leadership group of captain Owen MacNeil and assistants Dru Krebs, Rhett Parsons, Dallon Melin and Tyler Mackenzie pose with a new family from Cambodia whose baby was born Monday morning at the Medicine Hat hospital during their teddy bear distribution.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers leadership group had a day to remember.
Taking a break from delivering body checks on the ice, captain Owen MacNeil and assistants Dru Krebs, Rhett Parsons, Dallon Melin and Tyler Mackenzie handed out teddy bears from Saturday’s Teddy Bear Toss game to newborns, children and seniors at the Medicine Hat Hospital and to the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund on Monday.
It was a first-time experience for all five Tigers, with the last in-person teddy-bear deliveries happening in 2019. MacNeil says it was a special afternoon to be part of.
“Being able to give teddy bears to people in need, it’s pretty cool to brighten their day up a little bit, see the smile and allow us to see what they’re going through and to be able to kind of put a smile on their face,” MacNeil said. “Just thankful that they let us do it and hope we can brighten people’s days, then coming to the (SCF) is great, too. It’s a pretty cool program they have going on and for us to be able to be part of it was special as well.”
The Tigers lost 2-1 Saturday against the Saskatoon Blades with the ‘Teddy Bear Toss goal’ coming with 5:33 left in the game off Oasiz Wiesblatt’s 11th of the year. Melin had the honours of distributing the first teddy bear, a roughly 4-foot-5 bear to one of the children in the hospital.
“I saw the biggest teddy bear in the back of the cart, I knew I wanted to get it,” Melin said. “There was the little guy in there who wanted it and it was really nice to give it to him.”
All five players were excited to be there distributing bears and were not afraid to ask about seeing as many kids as possible, which led them to the new mothers wing of the hospital. There, they were able to meet multiple new families with newborns, including a family from Cambodia who moved to the Hat in April. Some of the families they met had babies born within the hour of meeting them.
“That was pretty cool,” MacKenzie said about meeting the newborns. “It kind of takes you back to when we were a kid. So they’re pretty cute.”
The Tigers were able to collect 1,346 bears and brought in 1,510 winter items from toques, mittens and scarves that will be donated to the Medicine Hat Health Foundation, the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund, Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter Society and the Salvation Army.
While at the hospital, the Tigers made a quick stop to drop off a bear and visit MacKenzie’s grandfather Sid. The five players had a visit with the 97-year-old in what was a special moment for the 18-year-old forward.
“I get to see him here and there but it was pretty cool to see him today,” MacKenzie said. “It’s pretty sweet because we got the boys up there and I think he was pretty pumped. That was pretty special, you don’t get moments like that often.”
MacKenzie is the youngest of the leadership group, with two more years of WHL action and two more Teddy Bear toss games ahead – he’s already looking forward to next year’s.
“It’ll be fun to do in the next couple of years and when I’m 20. Just to kind of go through it again and see it, it’s pretty special.”
