By CEDAR ATTANASIO, Associated Press
SEATTLE — Seattle Kraken forward John Hayden and the NHL team’s troll mascot had a close call with a brown bear during a promotional video shoot in Alaska.
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Hayden and mascot Buoy were on a fly-fishing outing in Katmai National Park as part of a trip promoting youth hockey when the bear approached, video released by the team shows.
Wearing waders, they were knee-deep in the river when the fishing guide spotted the bear on the far bank. “I’ve got to break you off now. … We’ve got a bear,” the guide tells Hayden in the video and takes his fishing rod.
As the group wades away from it, the tawny bear enters the river, growls — and then begins running directly at Buoy. After a nervy few seconds, the animal veers off when it’s about 25 feet from the mascot.
The NHL team said it didn’t intend to involve the bear in filming, but included it in a video posted to social media. “Bears are everywhere at Brooks Falls and, like, this is their territory,” said Kraken Partnership Marketing Director Melissa O’Brochta, who also recorded the encounter from shore.
“I want to blame it on Buoy,” Hayden said on the video afterward. “They were pretty interested in his look.”
The run-in happened on June 25 as part of an annual trip organized by the Bristol Bay Native Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska, with events that promote youth ice hockey.