Ottawa 67’s and Barrie Colts get into line brawl during Teddy Bear Toss

This is probably one of the strangest occurrences you’ll see in hockey this season.

On Sunday, the Ottawa 67’s hosted the Barrie Colts in Ontario Hockey League action. The game was special as it was the team’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game. However, things went a little sideways when the fuzzy friends started to fly.

Just before the halfway mark of the second period, 67’s forward Luca Pinelli hammered a one-timer past Colts netminder Ben Hrebik for his 21st goal of the season, leading fans inside TD Place to start heaving their stuffed animals onto the ice, but that wasn’t the only action going on following the game-tying goal.

Shortly after the goal was scored, players started to go at it in the Barrie zone. In a clip posted by David Castillo, it is unclear who started the skirmish, but players from both sides were involved.

None of the players fully dropped the mits, but plenty of punches and wrestling matches commenced for a couple of minutes.

In total, five players were sent to the box, including Pinelli, who received a double-minor for roughing and a misconduct. In total, 52 penalty minutes were handed out (six minors and four misconducts). As a result of the debacle…the teams resumed play at 5-on-5.

The Colts would win the game by a final score of 2-1.

The Teddy Bear toss tradition dates back to 1993, with the Kamloops Blazers getting credit as the first team to hold such an event. The tradition quickly spread throughout the Canadian Hockey League and around the globe, most notably in minor-league hockey and the collegiate ranks. This excludes the National Hockey League, which doesn’t want to delay any of its games by encouraging such an adorable escapade.