Peterborough Petes Collect 1,097 Teddy Bears In 7-4 Loss to Flint Firebirds

The Peterborough Petes may have lost 7-4 to the Flint Firebirds but were able to collect 1,097 teddy bears for their annual ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ for the Salvation Army’s Annual Christmas Appeal at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Thursday night.

The teddy 1,097 teddy bears were tossed after Jack Van Volsen’s goal in the final minute of the first period. The first intermission took place after the toss and resumed the final minute of the first period afterwards. Photo courtesy of the PEterborough Petes.

The Petes had a rough start despite peppering Firebirds’s (and Peterborough native) Will Cranley with 19 shots in the first period. They allowed the first three goals from Amadeus Lombardi, Gavin Hayes and Dmitry Kuzmin (short-handed) to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.

The teddy bears finally got to rain down in the final minute of the period as Jack Van Volsen buried a rebound on there powerplay to send the teddy bears flying and make the game 3-1.

Van Volsen continued where he left off in scoring his second of the game to cut Flint’s lead to 3-2. The Firebirds quickly restored their two-goal lead when Ethan Hay beat Petes goaltender Michael Simpson to make it 4-2.

Just three minutes late Lomardi got his second goal of the game for a 5-2 lead. Sahil Panwar scored just over three minutes later to make it 5-3, cutting the lead down to two. Flint retaliated quickly 13 seconds later to retake the three-goal lead. The play was reviewed to determine if there the puck was kicked in but the play stood. Former Firebird Brennan Othmann was able to score on his former squad to make it 6-4 into the third.

Both teams struggled to find the back of the net in the third as the Firebirds scored the only period’s goal as an empty net goal to win 7-4.

The Petes next game is Hockey for All – Neurodiversity/Sensory Awareness night at the PMC on Saturday against the North Bay Battalion.

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