The Seattle Kraken’s mascot recently had a wild — and fur-raising — encounter with a real grizzly bear.
In a video shared on social media, the hockey team captured the tense moment between Buoy the sea troll and a wild bear while the team was fly fishing in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, according to UPI.
Kraken center John Hayden narrated part of the clip, recalling, “While we were fishing, we had a pretty close call with a couple [of] bears.”
The footage shows Hayden casting in a stream before the camera shifts to the tree line, revealing a brown grizzly making its way into the water.
“We got a bear,” Hayden says, as another crew member warns, “Hey Sam, we got a bear, we’ve got to move down.”
Hayden hands his fishing pole to a crew member as the group begins moving downstream — but the bear decides to follow, wading into the water in their direction.
At one point, the animal spots Buoy, who was also fishing nearby. The bear lets out a roar and charges toward the mascot, prompting him to quickly retreat.
Fortunately, the grizzly stopped just a few feet away. Another camera angle shows how close it came to the players and film crew before the group managed to get away.
Hayden later said they “got out of it okay,” but admitted it was a “close call.” He added that the bear may have been drawn to Buoy because it was “pretty interested in his whole look.”
“That last little sprint, I was worried for you Buoy,” one crew member told the mascot, who shook his head in response.
The team captioned the post, “TROLL NARROWLY ESCAPES BEAR ENCOUNTER,” adding, “*no trolls or bears were hurt in the making, always respect wildlife in their natural habitat.”
In the comments on X, one person shared that they had a similar close call with a “bull moose” while hiking, while another joked the bear may have thought Buoy was a friend, writing, “If not friend, why friend shaped?”
The Kraken were in Alaska as part of their annual community engagement partnership with the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, UPI reported. The trip included “Kraken Week,” during which the team worked with the Anchorage Hockey Academy’s youth camp.
