Edmonton Oil Kings get in on ugly Christmas sweater trend for 2017 Teddy Bear Toss

It’s one of the highlights on the Edmonton Oil Kings’ regular season schedule every season and on Saturday, the 11th annual Teddy Bear Toss promises to bring bear bedlam to the ice at Rogers Place when the hockey team scores their first goal of the game.

“The rain of fur is something you really can’t describe until you see it live so we encourage all our fans to come early and bring lots of bears knowing that we’re helping out lots of friends and families here in Edmonton,” Kevin Radomski, the Oil Kings’ director of business operations, told Global News on Friday. “We’re going to have a sellout of over 18,000 people.”

READ MORE: Stuffed animals shower down during 10th annual Edmonton Oil Kings Teddy Bear Toss

The Oil Kings’ captain, forward Colton Kehler, said the huge attendance is just another bonus of the annual charity drive.

“It’s always a special night.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's always a special night."

The annual Teddy Bear Toss sees fans of the Western Hockey League team throw thousands of teddy bears and other stuffed animals onto the ice once the Oil Kings score their first goal of the game. The teddy bears are then collected and given to the Santas Anonymous campaign, whose goal since 1955 has been to see every child in the Edmonton area receive a new toy for Christmas.

READ MORE: ‘He’s still very much alive because of that feature:’ 630 CHED Santas Anonymous and its iconic story

This year, the team is bringing a new idea to the event. The Oil Kings players will be wearing special ugly Christmas sweater-themed jerseys for the game, which they will later sign for an auction also being held in support of the Santas Anonymous charity.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Kehler said. “It’s the first time I’ve been able to wear something like this.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I think it's pretty cool," Kehler said. "It's the first time I've been able to wear something like this."

For fans who arrive at the game and realize they’ve forgotten to bring a stuffed toy, teddy bears will also be for sale at Rogers Place.

Radomski said if the Oil Kings fail to score a goal against the Prince Albert Raiders on Saturday night, the teddy bear toss will take place after the game. But Kehler told Global News that he hopes it doesn’t get to that.

“I’ve been in games when I was younger, playing in the B.C. league, where it got down to the last five minutes and we hadn’t scored yet, so at that point, it gets pretty nerve-racking.”

The Oil Kings and Raiders will face off at 7 p.m.