WATCH: Pelletier triggers Teddy Bear Toss with opening goal against Colorado

The Stockton Heat held their annual “Teddy Bear Toss” game on Saturday, with the Colorado Eagles in town looking to spoil Stockton’s party.

The Eagles managed to hold Stockton off the board in the first period, although their own efforts to beat Heat goaltender @Dustin Wolf were similarly unsuccesful.

Then, early in the middle frame, Stockton’s leading scorer managed to break the deadlock. After picking up a spinning feed from @Matthew Phillips in the slot, Heat rookie @Jakob Pelletier looped below the right circle and fired a sharp-angle shot past Eagles netminder @Trent Miner.

@Juuso Valimaki picked up the secondary helper on Pelletier’s team-leading 10th goal of the season, which sounded the alarm for fans at Stockton Arena to fling their teddy bears and other stuffed animals from the stands onto the ice.

Pelletier now ranks third in the entire American Hockey League with 27 points in 23 games. He’s one of just 16 players with at least 10 AHL goals this season; his 17 assists rank sixth in the league.

Stockton currently leads Colorado by a 4–2 score late in the third period. @Walker Duehr, @Eetu Tuulola, and @Luke Philp have also tallied for Stockton; @Ryan Wagner and @Dalton Smith have the goals for Colorado.