A goal by Hitmen London Hoilett triggered an avalanche of teddy bears and other stuffies onto the ice of the Saddledome yesterday afternoon that will bring joy to over 20,000 youth.

Fans came armed with stuffies for the annual Enmax Teddy Bear Toss and got the opportunity to fling them onto the ice a mere 5:02 into the first period. Those teddys will be shared among about 65 charities in the Calgary area, including Cochrane.

Once again a team of volunteers from the Cochrane and Area Events Society (CAES) was there to help along with hundreds of others to collect the stuffies, then sort them in crammed hallways at ice level.

Today, Marina Chabbert, of CAES, will return to the Dome with Scott Willis, of Mountain Toys Cochrane. Year after year, Willis eagerly looks forward to providing transportation for this heartwarming cargo.

Chabbert says there appeared to be more stuffies tossed this year than last.

"We did put in a request for 600, which might get boosted up, but we'll get the final count tomorrow morning," she said yesterday.

Whatever the final number, all of them will be in the bus at the annual Stuff-a-Bus event this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Canadian Tire in support of the Cochrane Activettes Share Your Christmas campaign.

Should there be more bears than anticipated, the extras will be made available to other local charities.

Oh, and the Hitmen won the game against the Moose Jaw Warriors, 5-3, after scoring two unanswered goals in the third.