CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Monsters had their game against the Rochester Americans interrupted Sunday afternoon as thousands of stuffed animals rained down from the stands during the second period.

And they were fine with it.

After the Monsters' Stanislav Svozil scored at 13:38 of the second period, chaos ensued in the form of flying stuffed animals during the team's annual Teddy Bear Toss at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Fans were asked to bring new, unwrapped, stuffed animals to throw onto the ice when the Monsters scored their first goal of the game. The game was stopped for nearly 15 minutes as players, staff and volunteers gathered the fluffy friends and filled bags with them.

The team collected 21,859 stuffed friends from the 15,303 fans in attendance Sunday, shattering the record of 16,112 set last year.

The toys will be donated to a variety of charities around Northeast Ohio, including CBz Buddies, who have been providing emotional support to children involved in traumatic situations. Other organizations include Kent State University and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit.

And, although the toy collection was a success, the Monsters lost the game 3-2.

Svozil's goal that sent the fur flying came on assists by Rocco Grimaldi and Gavin Brindley. The other Monsters goal came from Daemon Hunt in the third period, assisted by Luca Del Bel Belluz and Trey Fix-Wolansky.

The Monsters' next home game is Saturday at 7 p.m. against the Grand Rapids Griffins.