Phantoms Deliver 12,099 Bears to Valley Youth House

Fans Come Through with New Record!

December 22, 2025

Allentown, PA – Lane Pederson delivered the big goal. Thousands of Phantoms fans showered the ice with teddy bears. And Carson Bjarnason joined meLVin and our staff with a massive delivery!

Phantoms staff were joined by Saturday’s winning goaltender, Carson Bjarnason, for the delivery day at Valley Youth House in Bethlehem where the comfort toys and plushies will be distributed to benefit local children in need and foster kids during this holiday season.

The Lehigh Valley Phantoms set a new record with 12,099 stuffed animals in the annual Teddy Bear Toss game at PPL Center. Lane Pederson’s goal on the power play at 2:11 into the second period triggered the chaotic scene. Today was the official count and delivery. By a slim margin of 146 teddy bears, the team set a new record, breaking last year’s mark of 11,853 stuffed animals. That brings the grand total to over 80,000 teddy bears since the team’s first Teddy Bear Toss in 2014.

Thank you, Phantoms Phans!

Phantoms Teddy Bear Goal Scorer:
2014: Brett Hextall
2015: Andrew MacDonald
2016: Nic Aube-Kubel (:59 into the game)
2017: Matt Read
2018: Connor Bunnaman
2019: Chris Bigras
2021: Gerry Mayhew
2022: Cooper Marody
2023: Zayde Wisdom
2024: Jacob Gaucher
2025: Lane Pederson

Teddy Bear Count:
2014: 1,728
2015: 2,773
2016: 4,125
2017: 4,970
2018: 7,148
2019: 10,091
2021: 6,593
2022: 8,480
2023: 10,869
2024: 11,853
2025: 12,099
Total: 80,729