It’s not unusual to see a foam puck or foam wolf be thrown onto the ice from the stands at a New Mexico Ice Wolves hockey game. For many fans, they can’t wait for their opportunity to litter the ice with as many toy pucks and wolves as possible after an Ice Wolves goal.

But on two nights, fans instead tossed new packages of children’s underwear over the glass and onto the frozen playing surface.

Sounds odd from the outside, but many fans of the Ice Wolves know about the popular “Chuck-a-Skivvy” promotion. For the second consecutive year , the Ice Wolves organization teamed up with its fans to support Locker #505, a local student clothing bank.

Fans were encouraged to bring new packages of children’s underwear to games for the two teams of Ice Wolves that compete in developmental leagues for college and pro hockey opportunities: the North American 3 Hockey League squad’s game on Feb. 25 and the NAHL Ice Wolves’ game on Saturday . During the second intermission of both games, fans tossed the packages of underwear to the ice.

In addition to the donated underwear, the NAHL Ice Wolves also wore specialty Locker #505-inspired uniforms. Sporting a back-to-school look, the uniform was made to look like a student wearing a hoodie, cargo shorts and a backpack. These game-worn jerseys were then signed by players and are being auctioned by the Ice Wolves, with proceeds going to Locker #505.

In total, 582 pairs of underwear were collected during the Feb. 25 game and 947 on Saturday. With more than 1,500 pairs of new children’s underwear donated, Locker #505 Executive Director Kim Kerschen and her staff have a lot of sorting work ahead of them. But she cited underwear as one of the clothing bank’s greatest needs and said she is thankful for the Ice Wolves’ and community’s support.

“This is a huge thing for us. (Underwear) is one of the largest budget items that we have to purchase, and it’s not cheap,” she said. “So getting (underwear) donated makes our lives easier and makes it possible to give kids five pairs of underwear.”

Courtesy of ABQ Journal