'Hopefully inspire those kids': London Knights Booster Club collects thousands of stuffed animals for Teddy Bear Toss game

The London Knights Booster Club (LKBC) is ready to break an OHL record for most teddy bears tossed onto the ice.

“I think we’re going to hit from that 4,000 mark just within the club,” said Sav Neth, president or the LKBC.

During every bus and beach trip, as well as BBQ the club hosted this past year, they asked their members to bring a stuffed animal in anticipation of this year’s Teddy Bear Toss game.

Neth, known as the Knights Super Fan, knows how the importance of the game and its donations for underprivileged children in the city.

“When I was a child, we went to a place and the Salvation Army provided me with a teddy bear,” said Neth. “I was just given that hope and the inspiration. When I was young, my mom was a single mother of five children, and I gave her that teddy bear. In my mid-forties, she passed away and she had that bear ever since, so it's definitely meaningful.”

When the bears are thrown onto the ice, they will be counted, sorted, and delivered by the Salvation Army.

The London Knights Booster Club has collected more than 4,000 stuffed animals for the annual Teddy Bear Toss game at Canada Life Place on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“This year we're serving over 6,000 children,” said Nancy Kerr, executive director of Salvation Army London. “Every little piece of toy we get, some of the bears are big, some of them are small, and it goes a long way to helping us make sure that the children get something under the tree.”

The Knights are encouraging fans to bring a new stuffed animal to Wednesday’s game at Canada Life Place. Their goal is to surpass their own OHL record achieved last year of 11,924.

“It's a fun game to be a part of and one of the first games to sell out,” said Alex Brown, Knights’ director of marketing. “We had almost 12,000 bears last year and hoping for more this year.”

A year ago, it was defenceman Jared Woolley who made history when he opened the scoring.

Nancy Kerr, executive director of London’s Salvation Army seen on Dec. 3, 2024, says they will service 6,000 children with stuffed animals collected during this year’s Teddy Bear Toss. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“I think everyone wants to score that goal and doing that and it being my first career goal, I thought it was pretty fun,” said Woolley.

He added that it has become an internal competition in the dressing room, as everyone wants the one who makes the bears rain down.

“Everybody's chirping and saying that they're going to score it, so everyone's giving each other a hard time about it,” added Woolley. “I think everyone just wants to be the one to bring them down for sure.”

No matter who scores London’s first goal Wednesday, Neth knows from personal experience, it is a very special night for those donating and those receiving.

“It is such a remarkable thing that this fan base, and this community is doing to help the Salvation Army,” said Neth. “It’s great giving and be able to receive and hopefully inspire those kids to have something to hug or something to hold that might not have anything for Christmas.”