NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Corson Hopwo, Daniel Baker and Lukas Svejkovsky of the Medicine Hat Tigers carry teddy bears to the doors of the Medicine Hat regional hospital Friday afternoon. A portion of the 1,235 stuffed animals tossed in their Teddy Bear toss game on Dec. 4 were donated to the Medicine Hat Health Foundation.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
The Medicine Hat Tigers made their annual trip to Medicine Hat Regional hospital Friday.
The Tigers leadership group of captain Daniel Baker, and alternates Lukas Svejkovsky and Corson Hopwo weren’t able to go into the hospital due to COVID-19 regulations, but brought some bears from last weekend’s Teddy Bear Toss to the hospital doors.
Heather Bach, executive director of the Medicine Hat and District Health Foundation, says it’s a fun time of year for them.
“The best part is watching the seniors and the children’s eyes light up when they show up in uniform. It’s kind of sad that they can’t come in and visit everybody but it’s still exciting because those teddy bears are so meaningful,” Bach said. “They reduce so much stress and they give the kids someone to hug, so it’s really a nice time of year.”
Import defenceman Bogdans Hodass scored in the second period of last Saturday’s Teddy Bear Toss game to send – a 4-1 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings – the bears flying onto the ice.
Tigers sales and marketing manager Kiel Owen was part of the small crew that delivered the bears on Friday and says it’s great for the Tigers to be out again and supporting the community.
“The hospital trip has been a tradition of this game for years so we miss the chance to go inside and see the kids and give them a bit of a nice surprise in a difficult time,” Owen said. “Just being able to deliver the bears and know they are going to go to a nice cause.”
Once everything was collected from the Teddy Bear Toss, there were 1,235 stuffed animals, 1,484 winter wear items and 30 toys thrown on the ice.
Those items were split between four local charities: the Health Foundation, the Medicine Hat News Santa Claus Fund, the Medicine Hat Women’s Shelter and the local Salvation Army.
Baker says it was awesome getting to do something for the community and said he misses being out with Tigers fans.
“It sucks, it’s a lot of fun when we get to go out,” Baker said. “We used to do our road hockey game with the fans and that type of stuff. But we got a lot of bears for them so it’s a special time.”
Bach says the Health Foundations has gone through a lot of teddy bears this year and she is glad they are getting more from the Tigers with all of the stress this year has provided.
“It’s really important, stress levels are high,” Bach said. “People need teddy bears simply to have an X-ray, get blood drawn. It’s not because it’s necessarily scary but it’s just that comfort, and the comfort of home and it’s a beautiful thing.”
Even though he didn’t play in the game due to injury, Hopwo says it was a cool moment on Friday and he enjoyed watching the bears rain last weekend.
Bach says anyone can donate bears throughout the year and to contact the Health Foundation if they want to make a donation.
