If you have never experienced it before, it’s a sight to behold.

The 12^th annual Teddy Bear Toss will take place tonight when the Sarnia Sting hosts the Plymouth Whalers in Ontario Hockey League play.
 

Game time is 7:35 p.m. at the RBC Centre.
 

Fans are encouraged to bring a teddy bear, or other stuffed animal, and toss it on the ice when the Sting score their first goal. The bears will be collected and donated to various charities in the community.
 

Last year close to 2,700 bears were collected and over the past 11 years, 30,000 bears have been gathered.

“It’s kind of exciting to see all those bears come on the ice,” said Sting head coach Dave MacQueen. “It’s for a great cause and hopefully we can score a goal fairly early.”
 

Last year Justin DiBenedetto scored the first goal for the Sting in a 3-2 shootout loss to St. Michael’s Majors. Over the past 11 years Sarnia has taken 15 out of a possible 22 points on Teddy Bear Toss night.

The first Teddy Bear Toss took place in 1998 and Andrew Proskurnicki scored the first goal in a 3-1 win over Sault Ste. Marie. Other players who have scored the opening goal for Sarnia include Dusty Jamieson (1999), Chris Berti (2000), Juris Stals (2001), John Hecimovich (2002), Daniel Sisca (2003), Chad Painchaud (2004), Jared Gomes (2005), Harris Reed (2006) and Steven Stamkos (2007).
 

The Sting snapped their eight-game losing streak last weekend taking five out of a possible six points with wins over Sault Ste. Marie and Niagara, along with a shootout loss against Erie.
 

“The guys played with confidence last weekend,” said MacQueen. “It’s very important for us to keep moving forward. Win or lose we have to stick with the program. Two key parts of that are our work ethic and our competitive level.”

MacQueen says it’s not going to be easy against the Whalers. Sarnia is 0-1 against Plymouth this season having lost 7-2 at Plymouth in early November.
 

“Outside of Windsor, they are as good as any team in our Conference. They are a big, strong team who can skate. There’s not a lot holes. They have solid goaltending, are strong defensively and have three or four players up front who can break the game open by themselves.”
 

One of those Whalers forwards is Tyler Seguin. He is their leading scorer with 24 goals and 21 assists in 27 games, good enough for fifth overall in the OHL. Seguin will likely by the first or second overall pick in next year’s National Hockey League draft.
 

“Seguin is the type of player who can put a team on his back and carry them. He is very dangerous,” MacQueen said.

So how does the Sting counteract the Whalers?
 

“We have to limit our turnovers, keep things simple, our goaltending has to give us a chance and we need that work ethic we talked about.”
 

The Sting will be without three regulars tonight. Forward Craig Hottot saw the doctor this week, but will remain sidelined until after Christmas with a broken jaw. Defenceman Daniel Broussard is out probably eight weeks with a broken collarbone suffered last Friday against Niagara while defenceman Brent Sullivan is listed as day-to-day with a slight concussion. He’s expected to play on the weekend.
 

Tonight is the start of three games in four nights for the Sting. On Saturday they host the Erie Otters at 7:35 p.m. while Sunday night they play at Sault Ste. Marie.
 

-     Sarnia is currently in 10^th place in the Western Conference with a 12-17-1-1 record while Plymouth is sixth at 17-14-0-0. Tonight is the second of six meetings between the two clubs.

-     Seguin is the Whalers top scorer with 24 goals and 21 assists. Myles McCauley is second with 17 goals and 11 assists while A.J. Jenks has 11 goals and 16 assists and Josh Brittain, who the Whalers acquired in a trade with Barrie, has nine goals and 12 assists. Hackett has played the bulk of the games in goal for the Whalers, 1,488 minutes and has a 2.58 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. Both Seguin and Hackett will tryout for Team Canada for the upcoming world junior championships.

-     Kale Kerbashian continues to lead the Sting in scoring with nine goals and 15 assists for 24 points. Ben O’Quinn is second with eight goals and 10 assists while Jordan Hill and Joe Rogalski have 16 points each. Goalie Adam Courchaine has played 977 minutes and has a 3.19 g.a.a. with a .911 save percentage and one shutout.