Noah Boyko had it raining teddy bears at Rogers Place Saturday

The Oil Kings couldn't win their game against the Rebels on Saturday, but thousands of children will benefit from the generosity of fans.

Saturday was the Oil Kings' annual Teddy Bear Toss game, where fans are encouraged to bring teddy bears in clear plastic bags to throw onto the ice when the Oil Kings score their first goal of the game.

Fans might have been a bit worried by the third period when the home team was still scoreless, but Noah Boyko put those fears to rest.

"As soon as that puck went in you could tell everybody's been waiting for it," said Angel Benedict, the executive director of 630 CHED's Santas Anonymous.

"The funny part is Noah was at the depot packaging up some gifts last week and he told me he was going to score, and he did."

Red Deer went on to win the game 5-2, but the real winner will be the children who receive the gifts fans brought and donated.

The final count for Saturday's game is 13,111 bears donated, about 700 more than last year's total. The organization was hoping to beat the record of over 16,000 bears, but are "thrilled" with this result.

"Right now, we have seen a 43 per cent increase year over year for children that we're going to serve," said Benedict. "Truthfully, our bear mountain is looking like bear valley so without this teddy bear toss, we would be struggling to fulfill that one piece of our gift package.

"With this, we're not going to struggle."

The Oil Kings will be back in action against the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Dec. 14.