Hockey fans cover the ice with bears in annual Teddy Bear Toss.

The Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League have one of the coolest traditions in hockey, in all of sports in fact, and that tradition is their annual Teddy Bear Toss. 

Each year the Bears host a special event at which they encourage the members of their fan base to show up with a stockpile of teddy bears. The purpose of bring the bears is to throw them out onto the ice after the first goal of the game is scored by the Bears, creating a torrential downpour of bears flooding the surface of the ice. Not only is it an amazing sight to behold each and every year, but it also serves the wonderful purpose of providing stuffed animals for less fortunate children around the holidays. 

Although the numbers are not in yet for this year's Teddy Bear Toss it does appear that it has been another successful event for the Bears, just based on the sheer volume of bears that hit the ice tonight. After the teddy bears had piled up onto the ice the piles were so thick that even the players from the Bears were able to jump into them and have a little fun. Here are a couple of angles of the teddy bears filling up the ice tonight.

Here's a shot from tonight that gives you some perspective on just how many teddy bears were on the ice at one time.

A short clip from the Bears that shows the players jumping into a huge pile of teddy bears along the boards.