Sports stats



ECHL Atlanta Gladiators

Cherished Atlanta Sports Tradition Continues Saturday Night

January 24, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Atlanta Gladiators News Release


The Gwinnett Gladiators 10th annual "Teddy Bear Toss" to benefit children's charities is this Saturday, January 26th when the Idaho Steelheads visit the Arena at Gwinnett Center at 7:05 p.m. In a unique minor-league hockey tradition, fans are encouraged to bring a new teddy bear or any type of stuffed animal to the game on Saturday to toss onto the ice and interrupt the game following the Gladiators first goal. The teddy bears and stuffed animals will be collected and distributed to various children's charities and pediatric medical care facilities in metro Atlanta and North Georgia. The 2013 event is sponsored in part by Georgia Natural Gas, The Georgia Lottery, Star 94, 95.5 FM and AM 750 WSB, Fox 5 Atlanta, The Gwinnett Daily Post and North Georgia's News Talk AM 550 and FM 102.9 WDUN.

"We are extremely proud of the enduring support this community provides to our "Teddy Bear Toss" game each and every season," said Gladiators Team President Steve Chapman. "The overwhelming response year in and year out has been simply heartwarming and has allowed us to continue assisting so many deserving organizations that do such amazing work on behalf of children."

Over the past nine events, collections from fan participation in the Gladiators annual "Teddy Bear Toss" has totaled over 50,000 stuffed animals which have benefited numerous wide-ranging charitable organizations and activities. Past donations have been distributed to The Foster Children's Foundation, Cure Childhood Cancer, The Salvation Army, Gwinnett Children's Shelter, Rainbow Village, New Borns in Need, Gwinnett Children's Clinic, Georgia Cancer Specialists, Eastside Medical Center, Gwinnett County DFACS, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and The Children's Center for Hope and Healing.

This season, the Gladiators will be working with many of the same organizations to help their causes, and a special team-sponsored "Gladiators Care-A-Van" distribution activity will be conducted involving direct on-site player visitations and patient interaction. In addition, the Gladiators will be pre-allocating a portion of new bears and stuffed animals specifically designated to benefit Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston. A select number of stuffed animals earmarked for this prestigious nationally-recognized facility which specializes in pediatric emergency and inpatient rehabilitation care, will be pre-allocated at random upon entry to the Arena at Gwinnett Center to protect the sanitary condition of these stuffed toys from exposure after being tossed onto the ice surface.

The Gladiators are the ECHL Affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes of the National Hockey League and are members of the ECHL, the Premier "AA" Hockey League and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.

Check out the Atlanta Gladiators Statistics

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from January 24, 2013


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central