Braillard leads Canes over Tigers in Toque and Teddy Toss game

By Lethbridge Herald on December 6, 2024.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Lethbridge Hurricanes Hayden Pakkala and Logan Wormald wrap stuffed animals around their shoulders during annual the Toque and Teddy Toss game on Friday night at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald
Leo Braillard scored the Toque and Teddy Toss goal and added another marker to lead the Lethbridge Hurricanes to a 4-3 win over the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday night at VisitLethbridge.com Arena.

“Yeah it’s (a) really nice feeling (to) score this goal with all these people,” said Braillard, after scoring the special goal 3:23 into the second period.

The Teddy and Toque Toss goal is one Braillard will remember for the rest of his life.

The Tigers quieted down the capacity crowd early on when Oasiz Wiesblatt scored his 13th of the season from Hunter St. Martin and Veeti Väisänen just 3:09 into the game.

St. Martin then notched his 20th of the season on the powerplay from Gavin McKenna and Ryder Ritchie with 21 seconds to go in the first period to give Medicine Hat a 2-0 lead.

The moment that all the fans were waiting for came 3:23 into second period when Braillard sent the toques and teddy bears flying from the crowd with his 11th of the season from Brayden Yager and Miguel Marques and cut the Tigers lead to 2-1.

The teddy toss goal seemed to spark the Canes as Noah Chadwick tied the game at two at the 7:17 mark on the powerplay from Yager and Logan Wormald.

It was 36 seconds later that Wormald gave the Canes a 3-2 lead with his 16th of the season from Tristen Doyle and Vojtech Port.

Braillard scored his second of the night just 4:12 into the third period from Yager to double the Canes lead to 4-2.

Matthew Ward got the Tigers to within one with three seconds to go in the game to make the final score 4-3.

Final shots were 35-32 in favour of the Tigers.

Each team was 1-for-4 on the powerplay.

The Canes are now 2-0 in the season series with the Tigers and these teams will face each other twice more next weekend before the Christmas break .

The final attendance for the game was 5,362.

The Canes are now off until Wednesday night when they welcome the Saskatoon Blades to town.