It's Teddy Bear Toss season in juniors. If you haven't had the pleasure: Fans bring stuffed toys to the game, and when the home team scores its first goal, they are hurled en masse onto the ice, to be collected and donated to a local children's charity. It's good vibes all around. Maybe not all around.
Michael Misa is 17 years old and projects as a lottery pick in the 2025 NHL draft; some mocks have him going as high as No. 1. The forward received a special exemption to even enter the OHL before he was old enough, and was picked first overall there by the Saginaw Spirit. He's shined, scoring a league-leading 25 goals and 49 points in 25 games.
Part of being an elite athlete is having a ruthless impatience for failure. So all of Misa's goals this year, and his bright future, all of that meant nothing in the moment when he got outskated for a goal on Sunday in Sarnia. It wasn't his fault at all, really: his backcheck just failed to disrupt a rush that led to the Sting's only goal of the day.
But when you're kicking yourself, a shower of exactly 4,663 teddy bears can't feel great. Scrub the video to about nine seconds, when the camera cuts to the wide angle. Misa is doing ... something on the middle-left of the screen.
Computer: Enhance.
A frustrated Misa whacked three teddy bears back over the glass on four shot attempts, a shooting percentage that'll play well at any level. It is hard to blame him entirely. If I had a hockey stick in my hands and was surrounded by big fat stuffed animals, the intrusive thoughts would be yapping their heads off. But for obvious reasons, you can't shoot stuff into the stands, be it teddy bear or chicken nugget. Misa was ejected from the game—Sagniaw hung on to win 4-1—and issued a one-game suspension by the OHL, which he served Wednesday night.
