Spreading some Holiday cheer

Injured Tiger Mason Shaw joins team to hand out teddy bears at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, hopes to start skating again next month

Mason Shaw may not be able to help out his team on the ice, but that didn’t stop him from chipping in where it really matters Tuesday at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital.

The 19-year-old Medicine Hat Tigers forward has been sidelined all season with a torn ACL, but when he returned to the Gas City to watch his team’s final two home games before the Holiday break, he made sure to help hand out teddy bears and share a few smiles with some local children and families.

“Obviously I’ve been away for a lot of things this year, but I texted Joey (Frazer, assistant coach) last night when I got in and said, ‘Hey I heard the boys are going to the hospital,’ and I think they grabbed a jersey out of the store and I’m here,” said Shaw. “It’s good to be a part of these things when you’re at home. It’s good to come here and interact with the fans and just be with the guys again and do things like this.”

Shaw tore his ACL in a Traverse City Prospects Tournament game against the Columbus Blue Jackets this pre-season. The 97th overall Minnesota Wild draft pick underwent surgery with team surgeons in St. Paul and says he’s finally starting to making noticeable progressions toward a return to the ice.

“I’ve been cleared to do some light jogging now so I’ll take the small victories when I can get them in this,” said Shaw. “Hopefully next time I go to Minnesota, in January, I’ll be coming back and be able to put my skates.”

Shaw was joined by team captain Mark Rassell, David Quenneville and alternate captains James Hamblin and Ryan Jevne. The group tasked with handing out the bears traditionally holds a friendly competition to see which player can hand out the most — with each selecting a stuffed animal to offer and allowing the children to choose for themselves. Quenneville took home bragging rights this year.

“I had two teddies in the last room we went into and that got me to four,” said Quenneville, who scored the Teddy Bear Toss goal Dec. 2. “It’s pretty special. Scoring that goal, it’s real cool. Obviously we know the teddies go to a real good cause, and to be able to deliver these to the kids today who are in the hospital around Christmas time — it’s not ideal, it’s kind of the way life goes, but anything we can do to brighten a lot of kids’ day is really rewarding.”

Rassell added he ended up going for a more classic approach after swinging and missing on his first attempt, and it earned him a second-place finish.

“I started slow. I thought I had the money maker, I took the biggest bear and I thought it would be easy but the first two kids were going for the smaller bears that Quenner and Shaw had, so I really had to put my work boots on and get off to it,” said Rassell, adding he quickly made the switch to more classic teddy bears. “The ones you see in the movies. The first one, I think I went overboard with that one, it was too big for some of the kids. They prefer a more cuddly bear that they can sleep with so after that first one was gone, No. 2 and 3 were small classic teddy bears and they were flying off the shelves.”

Regardless of where he finished in the friendly standings, Rassell — who scored the team’s Teddy Bear Toss goal three seasons ago — says the most rewarding part is bringing some cheer to families that may need it.

“It’s a great experience to be able to give back to the community and the kids. It’s tough to see these kids in a pretty tough situation right now, having to spend their days in the hospital, but it’s humbling for us to be able to come here and brighten their day a little bit.”

The Tigers also made a point to hand out some bears to older patients at the hospital, some of whom were thrilled to talk about the history of the team with current players.

“One guy knew us pretty well, and he knew the old guys like (Tom) Lysiak and Lanny McDonald so he was pretty excited talking to us about it,” he said. “It’s a real special cause that the bears go to and what we do with it, and I’m just really happy we were here today and made a difference.”

The Medicine Hat News Teddy Bear Toss brought in more than 3,000 stuffed animals and 765 winter items including toques, scarves and mittens.