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Meet 9 Grinch goalies who have torpedoed the teddy-bear toss with a shutout

That awkward moment when your team fails to score a goal on Teddy Bear Toss night.

The Vancouver Giants hope to avoid that scenario Friday night when the Everett Silvertips visit Pacific Coliseum for one of hockey’s great holiday traditions. Silvertips stopper Austin Lotz, however, is perfectly willing to play the Grinch — he blanked the Kamloops Blazers 7-0 on their teddy-bear night Monday.

Friday’s game gives Lotz a chance to become the first goalie in history to foil two teddy-bear tosses in a single season.

Here are nine Grinch goalies from various leagues who achieved immortality by making the home fans sit on their stuffies until the final buzzer:

Brent Zelenewich, Dec. 12, 2003
Indianapolis Ice 2 Oklahoma City Blazers 0 (CHL)
43 saves
Note: A line at the bottom of the game report reads, “Because of Friday’s inclement weather, the Blazers will have another Teddy Bear Night on Dec. 20.” We suspected inclement weather might not be the real reason the Blazers rescheduled Teddy Bear Night, so we checked the weather records. As it turns out, the bottom of this page shows that Oklahoma City was indeed hit with an historic storm that day, with 10 inches of snow in some areas, ice accumulation on roads and bridges, and freezing rain creating havoc for drivers. We don’t know how many showed up for Teddy Bear Night, but we do know the Blazers took advantage of their second shot at it, beating the Odessa Jackalopes 7-4 on Dec. 20.

Josh Lepp, Dec. 13, 2003
Seattle Thunderbirds 4 Everett Silvertips 0 (WHL)
16 saves before 7,605 fans
Quote: “We really wanted to bear down before the (holiday) break and play our system for a full 60 minutes and that’s what we did.” — T-Birds centre Dustin Johner
Note: That was the Silvertips’ first teddy-bear toss. The following Christmas, they held a ‘toque toss’ and were also shut out at home. They haven’t held a toss night since. It was an embarrassing run for the Kevin Constantine-coached squad to be sure, but they now have a chance to play spoiler for the second time in one season.

Travis Yonkman, Dec. 7, 2007
Swift Current Broncos 1 Kootenay Ice 0 (WHL)
34 saves before 2,838 fans
Note: Canucks forward Dale Weise (below) was playing for Swift Current when they came into Cranbrook and shut out the Ice. With the home team still scoreless in the final minute, an Ice fan figured they might as well start tossing and threw a bear onto the ice. Weise threw it back.

John DeCaro, Dec. 22, 2007
Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs 2 Oklahoma City Blazers 0 (CHL)
41 saves
Quote: “Well, that was disappointing for the teddy bear toss. Everybody brings a bear and we have 41 shots on goal and don’t score.” — Blazers head coach Doug Sauter
Note: It was the second time the Blazers had been shut out on teddy-bear night. Nevertheless, they were the CHL’s reigning “Franchise of the Year,” having edged out the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees at the 2006 league awards.

Marty Magers, Dec. 13, 2008
Rocky Mountain Rage 1 Wichita Thunder 0 (CHL)
31 saves
Note: We don’t know much else about Magers, although he was a teammate of Canuck Brad Richardson on the 2002-03 Owen Sound Attack. He also went in the fourth round of the 2002 draft to the Buffalo Sabres, who could have had D-man Tom Gilbert with the pick.

Richard Bachman, Dec. 17, 2010
Texas Stars 3 San Antonio Rampage 0 (AHL)
41 saves before 6,202 fans
Quote: “I felt kind of bad about it, actually. But in a 2-0 game you can’t give them even one.” — Bachman
Note: Bachman was 14 years old in 2002 when Martin Brodeur came to his hometown of Salt Lake City and showed him how it’s done. He’s one of the more accomplished goalies on our list, having appeared in 35 NHL games since his 2010 debut with the Dallas Stars. He’s now in the Oilers system.

Riku Helenius, Dec. 14, 2012
Syracuse Crunch 3 Adirondack Phantoms 0 (AHL)
21 saves before 2,756 fans
Quote: “He made some very, very big stops and I think that built into our game and started to creep into our head.” — Phantoms coach Terry Murray
Note: The Phantoms still embrace the teddy-bear toss and other fun promotions, but none better than their “Pregame Happy Hour” for select Friday night games, when draft beer is $2 for an hour before faceoff. Canucks please take note.

Brandon Whitney, Dec. 6, 2013
Victoriaville Tigres 5 Saint John Sea Dogs 0 (QMJHL)
28 saves before 3,449 fans
Quote (translated from French): “I am happy with this performance. It’s also a tribute to our goaltender.” — Tigres head coach Yanick Jean
Note: The Sea Dogs might do better with a promotion where women throw bras on the ice — their assistant coach is “Cowan the Bra-barian.”

Austin Lotz, Dec. 9, 2013
Everett Silvertips 7 Kamloops Blazers 0 (WHL)
26 saves before 4,119 fans
Quote: “That should never happen in our building. It doesn’t matter who we play. To watch these last two nights, it’s sickening. It’s sickening to watch…” — Blazers head coach Dave Hunchak

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Note: Canucks* forward** Dale Weise (below) was playing for Swift Current when they came into Cranbrook and shut out the Ice. With the home team still scoreless in the final minute, an Ice fan figured they might as well start tossing and threw a bear onto the ice. Weise threw it back.

Schlesische posted:

The best one is the Dale Weise one.
For those of you who are lazy:

Infidel Castro posted:

Speaking of teddy bear toss, Flyers prospect Radel Fazleev did a loving moonwalk on the way back to the bench after he scored the toss goal last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJyNDoOLjRg

Radel Fazleev owns.

fits posted:

Jamwad Hilder posted:

sounds like they are planning on doing an outdoor game for the 2018 WJC - probably Canada vs USA because who cares about the rest of the countries in the tournament

checksin posted:

Latvia vs Switzerland in Ralph Wilson Stadium, book it

Infidel Castro posted:

They just showed a brony on the jumbotron at the Admirals/Wolves game in Rosemont.

gently caress the Chicago Wolves.

A Typical Goon posted:

Connor Garland didn't get an invite to team USA's World junior camp. He has 66 points in 27 games this year and lead the Q in scoring last year and was awarded QMJHL MVP. Lol

cenotaph posted:

I accidentally hit an old man wearing a Tangradi jersey in the back of the head with a beanie baby at the WBS Penguins teddy bear toss.

Xtanstic posted:

Is that a case of USA Hockey / NCAA fuckery 'how dare you go play in the CHL' type nonsense?

Awesome Welles posted:

Michael Leighton had a 50-save game tonight against the Texas Stars

http://www.texasstars.com/news/detail/texas-stars-vs-rockford-icehogs-dec-8-2015

fits posted:

matthews had another two goals today

fits posted:

matthews had another two goals today

fits posted:

matthews had another two goals today

A Typical Goon posted:

I guess Kyle Connor was pissed team USA doesn't think he's good enough for the world juniors, he just had a 4 point, 3 goal night to give him 20 points in 14 games on the season. He's 10th in NCAA scoring as a 18 year old freshman.

Mage_Boy posted:

The WBS Pens went with the Holiday Sweater for tonight's game

Jamwad Hilder posted:

The KHL is expanding into China next season: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/russia-based-khl-expands-into-china-with-beijing-team-to-start-play-in-september/article27745117/

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Rotenberg said that the new team will be financed by Russian and Chinese businesses and that the project includes an academy staffed by “several children’s coaches” sent by the KHL to develop players. There is also support from the Chinese government, which is seeking to expand hockey in time for the Olympics, he added.