What was intended to be a scenic fly‑fishing video turned into a pulse‑racing wildlife encounter on June 25, when a grizzly bear charged at Buoy, the Seattle Kraken’s blue‑haired sea‑troll mascot, as he and Kraken forward John Hayden stood knee‑deep in a shallow river at Brooks Falls.The bear approached quietly from the brush before briefly charging, sending spray flying. The crew — including fishing guides on safety duty — swiftly retreated toward shore. The bear halted mere feet from Buoy before veering off, and no one was harmed, reported CBS..Hayden later quipped, “I want to blame it on Buoy — they were pretty interested in his look,” underscoring the peculiar attention the mascot drew from the curious animal.Marketing Director Melissa O’Brochta, who filmed the incident from the riverbank, said she wasn’t alarmed by the bear.“Bears are everywhere at Brooks Falls and this is their territory. They’re also super used to seeing humans. So I wasn’t scared” — though she added that a troll costume might be another matter, the New York Post reported.The venture was part of the Kraken’s annual partnership trip with the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, focused on promoting youth hockey through events like the Anchorage Hockey Academy’s summer camp..While Alaska lacks its own NHL franchise, Seattle and Vancouver serve as nearby anchors of hockey fandom.Katmai National Park, almost 300 miles southwest of Anchorage and accessible only by air or boat, is a well‑known grizzly habitat thanks to its summer salmon run at Brooks Falls.It also hosts “Fat Bear Week,” an annual contest celebrating bears that harvest plentiful salmon before winter.
