A National Hockey League team’s mascot had a tense run-in with a grizzly bear during a fishing trip in Alaska. In footage posted on social media, the Seattle Kraken captured the moment a wild bear briefly charged at Buoy, the team’s blue-haired sea troll mascot, at Katmai National Park during a fly fishing outing. “While we were fishing, we got a couple close calls with a couple of bears,” Kraken center John Hayden said in the video. The clip showed Hayden fishing in a stream, and then he panned the camera to reveal a grizzly in the distance that began moving in their direction. “We got a bear,” Hayden said, while another person said, “Oh, I got to break you off now. Hey, Sam, we got a bear, we’ve got to move down.” The bear briefly lunged toward Buoy, but halted before getting too close. The team got away unharmed. “TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER,” the hockey team said in a post on X. “No trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat.”
TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER🤯🧌🐻
*no trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat 🩶 pic.twitter.com/WBvw9RFkS0
— Buoy (@SEAbuoy) July 31, 2025