Clad in blue St. Mary’s University t-shirts and armed with noisemakers over 100 members of the St. Mary’s University friends, family and alumni were on hand Saturday at the Scotiabank Saddledome in support of the Calgary Hitmen and their 22nd annual Teddy Bear Toss event.

Though the local hockey heroes may have come out on the wrong side of the scoreboard during the game, there were no losers on the day as nearly 24,000 teddy bears found their way onto the Saddledome ice, including 100 bears donated by St. Mary’s University.

St. Mary’s donated 100 teddy bears to the event in recognition of the fact that the Hitmen players are currently enrolled in a special section of the university’s Management 291 course which was specifically designed to fit within their schedule and to help them plan for a future beyond hockey.

“St. Mary’s was honoured to support the Teddy Bear Toss,” said Dr. Gerry Turcotte, President & Vice Chancellor of St. Mary’s University. “It’s a spectacular event for charity, but it was also a wonderful team-and-community-building opportunity for us all. Over 100 staff, faculty, students and alumni turned out for the event.”

Over 60 local charities will receive bears from the event and on Monday the bears donated by St. Mary’s all found new homes with children at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.